WE ARE MURDERING GRANDMOTHERS

Oct 06, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

When it comes to murder, we have arrived at a situation in Guyana that engenders sadness, disbelief, frustration, fear and a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. We would go further to suggest that the nation, especially the elderly, is traumatized at the senseless murders of two elderly women, Constance Fraser, 89, and Phyllis Caesar, 77, of 243 South Road, Georgetown.
Indeed, crime, especially armed robbery and the murder have become one the most discussed topic in the country, and rightly so. Crime has the greatest impact on the lives of citizens, not just the victims or relatives of victims, but on the people trying to avoid becoming future victims. The miscellany of citizens who have fallen victims to crime leaves us wondering whether some ordinary action in pursuit of normal life could lead to violent death.
And so, the question remains why anyone would murder these two elderly women who according to relatives have been very kind and generous?
Even if robbery was the motive, why did anyone murder these two Christian grandmothers? The time has come for us as a people to take a long, hard look in the mirror, fathom what is wrong with us, and identify some remedies. A country that cannot provide safety for its elderly, the most vulnerable in society, is doomed.
The government must analyze the real causes of each heinous crime, including underlying predisposing factors, so as to identify solutions to pre-empt recurrences. For example, is robbery or murder likely against someone plying a legitimate trade?
Police and criminologists must look into the predisposing factors such as socio-economic status of criminals and the causes of their anti-social behaviour. They must search for answers as to how can the engines of criminality be dismantled? Why are some youths so easily lured into criminal conduct? How are persons able to recruit youthful trigger happy teenagers who have no respect for the laws and the sanctity of life?
Why are teenagers so easily lured into criminal conduct? Is it due to the vulnerability of the absence of fathers in the home, a fast-money culture, violence in music, movies and video-games, or poor impulse-control due to a lack of education?
Are the policies or the lack thereof, of our schools leading youths to seek their own solutions to perceived grievances? Specifically, why do some people develop a mindset that drives them to commit heinous crimes? Some of these crimes enrage human sensibility.
The identification of such factors can help deter and detect other crimes. The adage that the causes of crime are multifaceted may be true, but cannot be an excuse for the failure to remedy this deadly onslaught.
In apparent frustration, over the murder of their beloved Christian sisters, the leaders of the South Road Gospel Assembly Church, located a few houses from their homes, have directly appealed to youths who are influenced or attracted by crime to think of the national grief that attends their actions, and, instead, to seek better alternatives to their problems.
However, commenting on the absurdity of the brutal murder of Constant Fraser and Phyllis Caesar, the editor-in-chief and the publisher of this newspaper have linked them to our school system which has adopted a policy to “spare the rod and spoil the child.”
They were adamant that the flogging they and their peers received from teachers back in the day has helped them become better citizens. Although there is no proof that flogging is a deterrent to crime, their views may have some merit in today’s violent society.

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