Hang murderers in public, demands former MP
Published:Wednesday | November 2, 2016 | 12:00 AMChristopher Serju
More than 28 years after the State last hanged a convicted murderer, Sally Porteous, custos of Manchester, remains convinced that the death penalty is the most effective deterrent for those members of the society bent on killing others.
The wave of savagery to which she has been exposed in recent times has only served to reinforce that belief.
"All murders are bad, but we've seen some that have really shattered us. It's a new kind of barbaric coldness that we are not used to here. We have not seen that before," Porteous told a Gleaner Jobs and Growth Forum at the Mandeville Hotel in Manchester on Monday.
"You guys know how I feel about persons who cold-heartedly decide that they are going to take somebody else's life, and I still believe that. I believe in the death penalty."
One such case, which still resonates with the former councillor, is the case of businessman Terrence Green just over a year ago.
"Mr Green was shot and killed in broad daylight in Christiana when he came back from the bank. At 1 o'clock in the afternoon, walking down the street with hundreds of people in the street - robbed and shot right in front of everybody," Porteous recalled.
Calvin Lyn, managing director of Lyn's Funeral Home, used the opportunity to state his support for the death penalty.
However, the former member of parliament for North East Manchester told the forum that he would take it even further by making the executions public.
"When the person is found guilty, they should be hanged, or by whatever method of disposal, in the capital of the town where they committed the crime," Lyn declared.