Even in mourning, rage burns for mass murderer

Shereka Bryan held her eight-year-old son closer to her as she pondered the plight of what had happened to her friend, 31-year-old Kemesha Wright.

Trying to make sense of the carnage that led to Sunday’s funeral of Wright and her four children in Chapelton, Clarendon, maternal rage bubbled inside her as she wished for the opportunity to “take a lick offa him” - a reference of violence to Rushane Barnett, who confessed to killing his cousins in Cocoa Piece on June 21.

“Him not a human being. Him look pon five human beings and take dem life like that,” said Bryan, who shared that she lived in Wright’s community.

Bryan was among the large throng that turned out for the thanksgiving service for the mom and the Smith girls - Kimanda, 15; Shara-Lee, 11; Rafaella, five - and 23-month-old son Keshawn at Clarendon College’s Stuart Hall Auditorium.

One of the officiating ministers, Archbishop of Kingston Kenneth Richards, said in looking for answers, the enormity of the tragedy had begun to sink in.

“The fact that this took place in our home brings home to us the reality that something is wrong in our homes. The reality – it means something is wrong with our homes, and that is why we must recognise that what is happening outside society is an indication of what is taking place or absent in our homes,” he said.

Richards said that if Jamaica wants to rein in its runaway murder rate - which ranges from 40 per 100,000 to 60 per 100,000 annually - the solution lay in repairing family relations.

Gang feuds are the leading cause of murders in Jamaica, but domestic disputes have been cited as a major factor.

Parents, the archbishop said, must spend time teaching their children how to resolve conflicts amicably. He wondered if a lack of that moral reinforcement in Barnett’s youthful years might have paved the road to violence.

Richards has called for greater emphasis to be placed on emotional intelligence training, noting that murders would not be curbed unless people understood how to manage their feelings.

“That is why the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches will be formulating programmes for the community, for these programmes to get into our schools to get our young people so we can start changing their minds for them to develop self-respect,” he said.

Bishop Rowan Edwards, who has been pushing for churches to be on the front line of fighting crime through psycho-social intervention, called for Jamaicans to “bawl out against evil” perpetrated by hundreds of gangs.

Referencing the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, the Lighthouse Assembly pastor said the United States government showed grit and determination in not allowing terrorists to win.

A memorial has been built at the site.

“Guess what it is standing tall today and bin Laden is dead? Jamaica, we will build back, and the terrorists, they must be prepared to die or spend time in prison,” he said.

The Cocoa Piece five were laid to rest at Suttons Memorial Cemetery following the emotional service.

The crowd-control problems at the funeral spilled over at the burial as soldiers created human shields and pushed back the unyielding crowd.

cecelia.livingston@gleanerjm.com