Custos wants ‘brute beasts’ behind Monday’s triple murder collared
Pitkin urges St James citizens, business operators to unite against crime
Published:Saturday | November 11, 2023 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
St James Custos Bishop Conrad Pitkin is calling on the business community and the wider citizenry to unite against crime and violence in the northwestern parish, which is now blanketted under a state of emergency.
Pitkin made the call in the wake of a triple-murder that sent shockwaves throughout the nation on Monday after two schoolboys, seven-year-old Justin Perry and nine-year-old Nahcoliva Smith, were killed in a taxicab on their way home from school in Salt Spring. A male passenger, 26-year-old Tevin Hayle, believed to be the target of the deadly attack, was also killed.
“I stand here with a heavy heart, and a bleeding one, as the custos of this parish. It would be remiss of me not to mention the recent spate of violent killings in our beloved and beautiful parish, especially the brutal and barbaric killing of Justin and Nahcoliva on Monday afternoon. As a parent, and as the first citizen of this parish, my heart bleeds,” Pitkin said on Thursday evening while addressing the grand opening of the new Barnett Business Centre in Montego Bay.
“I call upon the business community of St James, not to be daunted by what has happened, not to be discouraged, but let us stand strong, let us be resolved, that we will win the battle. We together as a people will bring our beautiful parish back to some semblance of decency,” said Pitkin. “It is time, and, in fact, the time has long gone, when we must stand together and unite as a people and fight the scourge of crime and violence in our nation.”
Last month, the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry revealled that it has commissioned a crime study which will be submitted to the police in December, in order to identify the origin of crime and stop its societal spread. That study is to be bolstered by a previous study which was done by The University of the West Indies in 2017.
In the meantime, Pitkin directly denounced the perpetrators of Monday’s incident.
“I ask myself and I ask you all this evening, ‘What kind of cold-hearted brute beasts are these persons who snuffed out the lives of these young boys?’ It is time for us as a nation to speak with one voice. Let us be united, every one of us, until justice is brought to the perpetrators,” said Pitkin.
St James continues to be the most murderous police division in Jamaica, with 161 murders on record out of Jamaica’s tally of 1,159 murders up to October 28 this year. St Andrew South division (104) and Westmoreland division (98) round out the top three.