Killing children too

WHAT kind of diabolic insanity could possess a man to deliberately kill his own innocent infant child? Within the last four days we have seen two such atrocities arising from domestic disputes and once again we must appeal to the authorities, particularly the Police, to take a more serious view of such cases since not only the lives of battered spouses but that of small helpless children are also at risk. In our view, when police officers are called to intervene in domestic quarrels by desperate wives seeking protection from abusive husbands, it is not enough for them simply to warn the men to behave themselves. Over and over again such admonitions have proven to be a total waste of time; in fact, in many cases they have served only to intensify the fury of the rejected husband and strengthen his determination to vent his wrath on his helpless partner. Our society has a long and tragic history of women being horribly butchered by their husbands even after they had obtained restraining orders from the Court.

On Tuesday night the nightmare of Toy Basdeo came to a bloody climax when a man invaded her bedroom and attacked her mercilessly with a cutlass. The 35-year-old doubles vendor of Crystal View, Princes Town, was sleeping with her 16-month-old son Kyle lying on her bosom. The enraged attacker first  slaughtered the infant with one blow which almost split its tiny head in two. He continued to rain chops on Basdeo who was later warded in a critical condition at the San Fernando General Hospsital with wounds to her neck, arms, legs and chest. According to reports, the police knew that the suspect had been on the warpath for the past six months. Frequent arguments between the couple ended with Basdeo being beaten. On Monday the distraught woman reported the attacks to the Princes Town police but implored the officers to “come and speak to him” since she did not want to press charges.

How many times have we seen such foolishness? A mother is being repeatedly brutalised by a violent man but calls in the police “to talk to him” as if such a warning could assuage his ferocity or solve her problem. When for such women does enough become enough? In our view, the Police, as keepers of the peace, have a more serious responsibility in dealing with such cases of domestic violence. In assessing the situation they must also urge endangered women to make a clean break by seeking refuge elsewhere, if not at the residence a relative then in one of the homes for battered women situated in different parts of the country. On Saturday night at Lucien Road, Belmont, another infant was killed in a different kind of tragedy. Depressed over breaking-up with the mother of his two-year-old son,  47-year-old Joseph George took vicarious revenge by hanging the boy, Judan, and then committing suicide by hanging himself. It seems that George, owner of Jade’s Bread and Pastry Shop of Obsevatory Street, also had a stormy relationship with the mother of his son. According to Alfred Sosa, the father of Judan’s mother, he had been told several times of fights between his daughter and George and he had even changed the locks on the door of his home. Still, he never suspected the affair would end in such a tragedy. Why didn’t George seek help? Even if he felt like killing himself, why did he snuff out the life of his infant son?  Why does rejection produce such madness?