Rape and robbery on the seawall

Mar 15, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Guyanese are becoming numb to the worst criminal atrocities. This numbing has led to indifference over the crime situation, which is traumatizing citizens.
Last week, Kaieteur News reported that a schoolgirl had been raped on the Ogle Seawall. It was reported that three students were studying on the seawall – what a place to study –when they were attacked by a knife wielding man. Two ran away but the other was unable and she was raped.
In times gone by, an incident such as that would have led to mass outrage in Guyana. People would have come together not just to condemn this vicious act but also to try to help the police find the villain who committed this foul deed on an innocent schoolchild.
Danger is confronting our young schoolgirls. They cannot even sit on the seawall without fear of being molested. They face the same potential threats in some of our public parks. The only place for them to relax is at the malls and there you have to have money to get there and to spend while there.
It is hoped that the perpetrator of that rape on that schoolgirl is brought to justice and given some of the harsh sentences which rape victims are receiving at present in the courts. What happened to that schoolgirl should not happen to anyone. She has been scarred for life. The person who did that to her is a beast who should be removed from society and placed in prison for the rest of his life.
As terrifying as that incident was, it was not surprising that the rape took place on the Seawall. What was surprising was that it took place at Ogle and not on the stretch of Seawall between Camp Street and the Rupert Craig Highway.
That stretch of Seawall is dangerous day or night. There are mentally deranged characters roaming the foreshore. There are strange men liming around who have penchant for watching at your pockets to see if they decipher the shape of a wallet or a cellular phone so that they can pounce on you and relieve you of them. The entire seawall is poorly lit at nights and therefore surprise attacks can be launched against persons.
The area is a nest also for lovers in cars. But given how unsafe it is, it would not be surprising to discover that some of them may be attacked by bandits and rapists and out of shame, they do not report it. The area is simply not safe.
Further west is the Kingston Seawall area. This has been a traditional spot where people go for relaxation and the fresh air. Not anymore. There is no relaxation, which can be had any more in that area. And the air is no longer fresh and clean.
The Kingston Seawall was established around 1855. It is part of historic Georgetown but it seems destined to be consigned to the waste bins of history, judging from its neglect and mismanagement.
The entire strand has been invaded by all kinds of vendors, from trampolines to concessions selling alcoholic beverages. Music is blared at decibels, which are a nuisance. Generators are coughing up polluted fumes just in front on the benches where people have to sit. The Kingston Seawall is no longer the peaceful, tranquil area which it used to be.
A number of benches have either gone missing or destroyed. In the not too distant past, some of the benches had found their way in use by some of the businesses, which operate there.
Older folks who go out there to relax and de-stress, leave tenser and stressed out that when they arrive. And to add injury to insult, there is now the lurking threat of robbery and rape.
The Seawall is a place where the rich and poor should be able to go and relax. Both the rich and the poor are now afraid to venture there.
It should not be a drive in motel or a lair for robbers, rapists and the mentally disturbed. It is not a hotel.
Some persons even contemplated seeking refuge from the insanitary conditions, the noise and polluted air by moving further up the Coast at Ogle. The rape of that schoolgirl last Friday is enough to change their minds.

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