The death penalty is condemned, but things suggest otherwise

Jan 10, 2016 Features / Columnists, My Column

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When Crime Chief Seelall Persaud hosted his press conference toward the end of last year, he made the observation that conflict resolution skills appear to have disappeared from the psyche of people.  His comments were prompted by the spate of disorderly murders that were occurring in the hinterland.
Then, very early in the new year, there was another spare of murders. The first two days of the year saw four murders. Since then there have been four more. It is as though humankind has lost reason. One murder occurred in plain view of everyone. Reportedly, a young man threw a hard object at a vehicle, causing all the occupants to go after him.
The driver of the vehicle ran him over then the occupants climbed out and proceeded to beat him to death.
In another case, a man who had been imbibing, proceeded to kill his cousin in the most unthinkable way. It was as though the cousin’s life meant nothing. Then there was the case of men entering a home and after beating a woman and her son, setting the home afire. The woman burnt to death in that fire. It is now suspected that the cause of the violence was greed, rooted in an insurance police that the victim had.
Yesterday saw the worst of the killings. An 80-year-old man and his wife were set upon and hacked to death. The scene was unimaginable. What could such a man do to deserve that fate? If indeed it was a robbery then the monsters gave no regard to human life.
These things make me angry when the sanctimonious among us rush to seek the abolition of the death penalty. I remember when people invaded homes and killed people. That rash of crimes was dubbed ‘kick-down-the-door’. The then President, Desmond Hoyte, put an end to that when he hanged the perpetrators.
It has been sixteen years since the last hanging. Instead, the perpetrators of heinous crimes are given long prison sentences. The judge, when asked about these sentences, said that the state is not hanging people, so he has to protect the society by putting away the killers for a long time.
Of course there were those who felt that the sentences were unduly harsh but as the saying goes, people only react one way when they are not the victims. These are the people who protest at the drop of a hat about the rights of the criminal, with no consideration for the rights of the victims.
But for all that, the most talked about issue involves an 18-year-old boy who came to Guyana for the first time to be with his god-brother. A few things bothered me. For one, the nation was not made aware of this visit until some three months after the boy should have arrived. That was when his father made a plea for his son’s return to England.
I could not understand a parent not trying to make contact with his child who was going to a strange country for the first time. And to crown it, the child, who had travelled to some states in the United States, would call as soon as he arrived in that part of the world.
Queries about the boy’s whereabouts only began when the father said that his son failed to return on November 6. I could imagine a father now beginning to panic. He named the person who was supposed to pick up his son at the airport, but when the police checked they got the word that this man did not pick up the young British citizen.
It is here that I recognize how far the Guyana Police Force has come. Not only did the ranks get on the case and unveil some facts, they also found the mutilated body of the young man. I shuddered to think that the person whom he came to visit actually killed him.
The police worked; they got tips which they should have got a long time. Someone directed them to the backlands and when they were about to give up a search, this person called them to let them know that they were close. The end result is that they found this young man in a shallow grave. Soon after crows were seen circling.
As for the man whom this man was visiting, the police held him in a hotel near to the former Russian Embassy. Again, this was excellent police work. Kudos to the police. But there are still some unanswered questions. Why the murder? Was it for the few pounds that the young man was carrying? Did he see something that he should not have?
The brutality is astounding and coming from a young man who is 23, it speaks volumes about the people in the society. Just when we were beginning to think that we had seen the worse, we are confronted with a new breed of animals.
Should we reintroduce the death penalty with a view to halting this bestiality? I expect to get some criticisms.
And while I am on this topic I cannot help but notice the pace with which people respond to reported incidents. The Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority was paid a visit by the GRA, who wanted to repossess some articles that belonged to the authority.
People hastened to say that Mr Khurshid Sattaur was unfairly treated. The chairman of the Board of Directors set the record straight. I wonder whether those who criticized the GRA would now issue statements to the effect that they were wrong to pass judgement.

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