Mark Wignall | The tragedy of a taxi ride

My heart was heavy, and bitterness had taken over my soul as I read of the horrific deaths of two young boys whose lives were recently snuffed out because an adult passenger in the taxi was the target of the shooting.

Like you and those you know, I am stunned, but sadly, not surprised. Think of it in all its tragic circumstance. Two young boys with their whole lives ahead of them. Innocent children are no more because the assassins were so cold, evil, and lacking all humanity that they could not even reach their target without affecting children.

We must assume that the target did something that marked him for death. For what it is worth, let me assure you that that doesn’t have to be too much. It could be a man was dissed on a building site. Or a man suspected another man of double-dealing with his woman. What would normally happen after? The assassins would firm up the deal, arrange for the spot where the money would be split up, and then follow the taxi and cruelly stalk their prey.

I could ask myself this question: Could they not wait until the target exited the taxi? That is a most foolish question when they never placed that high a value on life while growing up as children. They grew up as animals, and their parents assisted them in reaching to that point.

When they shot into the taxi , they cared little that innocent children were in the vehicle. I would not be surprised if they laughed as the children grappled with impending death.

When the lives of our children are snuffed out in the way those two boys were, what else is there to conclude but that the apparatus of the State has failed the people at their most vulnerable moment: protecting our children.

It is taken for granted that no matter how brutish our daily existence has become, there must be one part of us that saves us from barbaric behaviour, and that is singling out our kids and locking them in a firmly sealed cocoon of safety and the certainty that they will see tomorrow. At this time, nothing about their safety is guaranteed.

The question is, what will be done by the Government and the people of Jamaica? More time behind prison bars for the worst of our murderers? Resuscitate capital punishment? Wait on the regular potful of words from the prime minister? And the predictable echoes from the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP)?

For decades, those elected have failed to perform. So the Government will not be able to do much of anything except the PM’s many words condemning the carnage.

All that is left is the people. People of Jamaica, what are we to do? Will the evil that has gripped the nation be permitted to metastasise, or will the people find the strength and will to annihilate evil?

On top of the strength and the will, more important is that we identify the way to get there. What do you suggest?

WE KILL WITH SUCH EASE

In October 1992, Vic Higgs, a white expatriate who had been working with the tourism ministry to produce a yearly classic golf tournament, lost his way from Runaway Bay to Kingston. He slowed the car to seek directions. Two men offered to travel with him to connect with the main highway. Then they robbed him and murdered him. Placing his neck under the trunk lid and sitting on it, one of the murderers said in court, “Mi could a hear when him a dead.” Think of that. Murder on a hunch? As sport?

Prime Minister Holness is quite rightly in another moment of confusion, but I can understand why he’s there. He wants to make many promises all at once, and yet he knows that many of them have little chance of connecting with the people.

The PM is urging swift passage of an increase in the penalty for murder. My friend, who is an attorney-at-law, emailed me.

“That is a fool’s errand. Increasing the penalty for murder alone will have no effect by itself. The DPP’s office lacks resources to prosecute cases. The JCF is short-staffed with scene-of crime experts and others to prepare cases.

“JCF officers are woefully indifferent and often fail to show up for court. So the state lacks the resources to present persuasive murder cases. The killers may be detained a while, but they may get bail or simply be released for lack of prosecution. Murderers know this all too well as do adept criminal defense counsel. The legislation will have no teeth unless the resources are there to make cases. The PM knows this and yet he still tries to convince the people of Jamaica that increasing the penalty for murder will be their automatic magic bullet.”

One reader suggested: “Increasing the penalty for illegal gun possession has not slowed the slaughter. Should that not have been a warning?”

It is safe to admit that many Jamaican men have poor social skills with women because in their youth, they were part of the generation that deliberately undercounted the social and human value of a woman. So many couples regularly have their kick-up, box-dung series, and it is seen in many communities as socially acceptable. Add to that the fact that many Jamaican women are whopping the men as far as social and educational advancement, and men are increasingly angry as the women easily outpace them.

Recently, the nation was shocked (all over again) as PNP MP Phillip Paulwell lost his young toddler and her mother to killers, who, it is alleged, were hired specifically to do that work of horror. People began to ask the obvious question: What sort of a human being can systematically hunt and kill a woman and her baby?

And if such a human being is caught and dragged before a court of law, what is it that the State can do to him to send a message that others cannot do the same thing and feel that they are free and at liberty to do it all over again?

The answer must come from the bile and anger of the people, but it will certainly need a leader who is in tune with those very people.

n Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.