‘KILL BAD MEN’

“Let them do like what the Philippines government are doing now,” cried Amanda Haynes, one of Boney’s sisters. “Let them take the badmen off the street. How many more mothers and families would have to cry? When will this stop? Someone needs to intervene.

Bring the police or bring some other measures. Bring something! Deal with these criminals, because they have no respect for life.” Boney’s mother Joan Haynes told reporters yesterday that he was at his home in Dass Trace on Monday night, when he got a phone call. She said that Boney told her he was going out near their home for a while and that he would return shortly. Minutes later, she added, loud, rapid gunfire was heard.

When residents checked, they found Boney on the ground dead.

He was shot several times. Two other men, Kendall Trim, 26, and Odingo Smith, 21, were also lying on the road nearby, have been shot as well.

The two were rushed to hospital for treatment and remain warded in stable condition. Boney’s relatives expressed shock at the manner in which he died saying he was never involved in any criminal activity and was a hard-working, family- oriented person. “All I heard was ‘Pow! Pow! Pow!’,” Boney’s mother recalled. “I didn’t think It was my son at all, because I know he was not involved in anything wrong or illegal. It’s just by chance I went outside and saw him lying in the drain. Never in my wildest dream did I think this would happen. You hear things like this on the news and so on, but I never thought it would reach home,” the weeping woman said. Relatives said that Boney spent most of his free time at the New Testament Church of God at Caroni Savannah Road. He made sure to partake in all church activities and attended Sunday services religiously. They added that he was saving money to buy a new car. He was one of Haynes’ six children.

Boney’s murder, which brings the national toll to 348 for the year so far, occurred no more than 24 hours after another Enterprise, Chaguanas man - Joshua Williams, was killed while sleeping at his home. Although Boney’s relatives’ plea for the State to kill criminals would appear to be too drastic a measure, it comes mere hours after noted criminologist Professor Ramesh Deosaran publicly stated what most people in this country already know - the criminals are not afraid of detection or punishment.

Speaking on Monday at a TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce post Budget analysis at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain, Deosaran linked State corruption and mismanagement to the level of lawlessness in this country which he termed as being, “a free for all crime spree.” He said the crime issue was made worse by an ineffective judicial system and low detection rates by police which have emboldened criminals who no longer fear arrest or conviction.

As Government has budgeted $6.6 Billion for National Security, Professor Deosaran who is a former Independent Senator and chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) said that the safety of citizens is an imperative.

Following his election in May, Filipino President Duerte launched a bloody war on illegal drugs in the Philippines, which saw well over 3,000 extra judicial killings of persons suspected of either trafficking in illegal drugs or using it. These killings were committed by police officers and vigilante gangs.