Hanover’s leaders lament crime situation, call for unity
Published:Monday | April 25, 2022 | 12:09 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
HANOVER, ONCE known as the safest parish in the island but has discarded that moniker for some time now, has joined with neighbouring St James and Westmoreland to form what is now regarded as a deadly triangle.
Murders in Hanover over the last two years are cause for concern, which have increased from about nine at the end of April in 2021, to 15 as at April 23, 2022.
The latest murder that occurred in Hanover has stirred many emotions across the parish, leaving individuals wondering as to when did residents of the once-peaceful parish changed to become such dangerous and heartless persons.
The incident in question occurred in the Cascade area, wherein a three-year-old child was shot along with two other persons on Wednesday April 20, and died, along with one of the other victims.
Deputy mayor of Lucea and councillor for the Sandy Bay division in the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), the division in which the district of Cascade is located, Andria Dehaney-Grant, told The Gleaner that she is greatly affected by the shooting incident, especially bearing in mind that she knows the persons who were shot very well, including the child who was killed.
“I think it is a really sad moment. It has caused some damper on the parish in terms of the killing, and considering that a young child, three years old, has been killed as well, I hope that one day our people in this country will have some more feelings for life, in terms of respect for life, and try to preserve life,” she stated.
Dehaney-Grant argued that until then, crime and murders will always be committed in the parish.
“When we start killing off our kids we are actually killing the nation, because our kids are our future,” she said. “So, I pray that we will have a different heart towards life in this country and towards our future, because if we kill the kids therefore we are killing our nation.”
SADDENED
She said that the nation, the parish and the community of Cascade in particular are saddened because of the incident, and called for a stop in the killings taking place across the nation, claiming “it makes no sense”.
Her sentiments were shared by the mayor of Lucea and chairman of the HMC, Sheridan Samuels, who noted that he, too, is saddened by the number of killings taking place in Hanover, and even moreso the killing of the three-year-old child in Cascade.
Samuels stated: “I am not in good spirits. This is not the Hanover that I know and we have to really take it (parish) back (from criminals).”
Highlighting that he is a product of Hanover, the mayor said that violence across the parish is novel to persons like himself, who are used “to living in a beautiful and peaceful parish”.
Meanwhile, Deputy Superintendent Keeble Simms, of the Hanover police acknowledged the pain being felt by residents with regards to criminal activities, while also making special mention of the recent killing of the child. He added that the police are very distraught.
“Notwithstanding, we are working quite feverishly, to the best of our abilities, to see how best we can bring to closure, in terms of identifying and prosecuting effectively, the perpetrators for these incidents,” Simms stated while addressing a function to launch free Wi-Fi in Lucea.
He praised the introduction of the public Wi-Fi in the Lucea area, and revealed plans to introduce it in other areas across the parish, noting that it will have tremendous benefit to crime-fighting efforts.
“I am using this opportunity just to appeal to the better judgement of the populace within the parish for us to get ourselves away from the notion of being labelled a police informant, and for us to utilise this particular facility (public Wi-Fi) that has been made available at tremendous cost, in trying to support the efforts of the police,” he stated.