Heartless - Five-Year-Old, Deacon Among 11 Murdered In 24 Hr

[Mosiah]

Heartless - Five-Year-Old, Deacon Among 11 Murdered In 24 Hours
Published: Friday | April 30, 20100 Comments and 0 Reactions
Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE ONGOING criminal mayhem in Montego Bay, St James, took another wicked twist yesterday when a five-year-old girl was shot and killed in Glendevon after thugs opened fire on the vehicle in which she was travelling to school with her father and an elder sister.

The dead child has been identified as Christina Salmon of a Rose Heights address. Her father was reportedly shot in the mouth, while her eight-year-old sister suffered multiple gunshot wounds. The injured man and his surviving daughter were both hospitalised.

The child's killing came the same day gunmen murdered St Catherine deacon Michael Dixon. Dixon, who was one of at least 11 people killed over the past 24 hours, was reportedly shot while conducting morning prayers at home in St Catherine.

In another Montego Bay incident on a day marked by protests and sporadic violence, a salesman was also shot and killed. He was identified as Newton John of a Felicity Road address in Glendevon.

Reports are that sometime after 7:30 a.m., Christina's father was transporting his daughters to school when he breached a roadblock that was set up by persons protesting Wednesday's killing of two men in the area by the police.

Shortly after going through the roadblock, armed thugs turned their guns on the vehicle, firing a barrage of shots, hitting all three occupants. Despite being shot, the injured father maintained control of the vehicle and sped off to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where Christina was pronounced dead.

Within recent times, the child's father has been a very strong advocate for peace in his home community and was a founding member of the Rose Heights Covenant of Peace, an organisation founded seven months ago with a mandate to rid that community of lawlessness.

Pastor Knollis King, who initiated the formation of the Rose Heights Covenant of Peace after declaring that he had become "sick and tired" of burying young men killed in a gang conflict, said the murder of young Christina was a cruel blow.

Cruel blow

"This is a sad blow to us here in Rose Heights, as Christina's dad is one of the strongest advocates for peace in the com-munity," King told The Gleaner. "As a community, we fully understand his pain at this time and we will be doing all we can to support the family."

He added: "He is a young man who adored his little girls and when I spoke to him today, he was totally consumed with grief. He told me he would have preferred if it was he who was killed and his daughter spared."

To date, St James has recorded 86 homicides since the start of the year.
Reacting to the ongoing violence, Dr Horace Chang, member of parliament for the area, said he would be trying his best in imploring his parliamentary colleagues to treat the situation in the western city with greater urgency.

"I think I have to convince my colleagues to be more aggressive," Chang said.

"I have had some support, in bringing to bear the kind of extensive social intervention, which will combine the resources of the PMI (Peace Management Initiative), CSJP (Citizen Security and Justice Pro-gramme) and the SDC (Social Develop-ment Commission) to see if we can cauterise the continued entrance of the younger genera-tion into the system."

The unrest also resulted in the sus-pension of classes at the Glendevon Pri-mary and Junior High, Farm Primary and Junior High, as well as Green Pond basic, primary and high schools. Several pro-fessionals in the community were also prevented from going to work.

The mayhem came less than 24 hours after National Security Minister Senator Dwight Nelson flew into Montego Bay and announced plans to establish a police post in the nearby Montego Hills neighbourhood.

He also said 40 additional personnel would be deployed to the St James Police Division to strengthen its manpower.

- adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com

[Mosiah]

Quote of the Week

To date, St James has recorded 86 homicides since the start of the year.
Reacting to the ongoing violence, Dr Horace Chang, member of parliament for the area, said he would be trying his best in imploring his parliamentary colleagues to treat the situation in the western city with greater urgency.

"I think I have to convince my colleagues to be more aggressive," Chang said.

Ya think?!?

[Jawge]

Nuh worry; strengthen the constitution by broadening the treaty. Joint military exercises and operations (operations just added) with the JDF and US military. I know this present Govt. won't do it but the rights of the poor needs to be defended.

[Nemesis]

This is heartbreaking stuff. Yet we have the partisans on this site playing the game of politics while our people die.

[Rudi]

Ya think?!?

He obviously never sent the message to his colleagues on the required letterhead. Mobay=Murder city. Joke business.

[ReggaeMike]

Nuh worry; strengthen the constitution by broadening the treaty. Joint military exercises and operations (operations just added) with the JDF and US military. I know this present Govt. won't do it but the rights of the poor needs to be defended.

Jawge, it isn't about the constitution (in another thread you also referred to the constitution and what you perceive as it's weakness). It's about who we are as a people now. If Barbados can be so relative wealthy and peaceful with a constitution that is a clone of ours, it means something is wrong with us. And forget the joint military exercises and operations, what might be needed at this point is an outright peacekeeping force with or without some kind UN Trusteeship. I'm sad to say it, but it would not surprise me in the least if some kind of UN administration along the lines of Cambodia was able to do the same thing out here as happened in Barbados without so much as changing one letter in our constitution. We are becoming ungovernable and the governors have long since gone crazy and the average man is still blinded to it at times - witness how many people keep calling on the PM or the current parliamentarians to "change their ways" or to "show real leadership" or to "set the example" right after berating these same politicians as part of the problem. That cannot make sense. It is like living in Zaire and expecting Mobutu Sese Seko at any point towards the height and end of his reign to suddenly develop ethics and decide not to steal. A written constitution is merely an expression of the intention by which a nation or a body is expected to be governed. The real constitution is not found on any piece of paper, but within ourselves as a society as values and adherence to laws, rules and regulations and dictates whether society will allow the written constitution to function truly as intended or to ignore it except when it is convenient. If we let thieves, murderers, pimps and drug-dealers rule us and continue to let them rule us by facilitating the election of their politicians buddies every election cycle then it means something is truly wrong with us which no simple amendments on paper can fix.

[Hortical]

People in Jamaica must be numb to all mayhem, and in fact death is so common that we rarely see people rising up to protest inaction on the part of the authorities. There are some who would like Adams to return, a man who was identified as managing a death squad known as the Crime Management Unit. The time is right to break up the JCF and merge their operations and functions with the JDF.

[Mosiah]

vote rasta? no, seriously, what to do?!

[Jawge]

Where is the partisan politics? You don't seem to get it: Ja has no real govt. at present. Other than the US military helping Ja ight now, you will have to ask for the assistance of the PRESIDENT!

[Jawge]

The barbados reference is not relevant here, as we are dealing with the present and the barbados model does not fit.

You are right about criminals having their way with the politicians hence rendering the island a close relative of Somalia. Notice that the leader of the opposition must appear in court, so does the PSOJ and the police officer needs to be charged. Yet the accused isn't even asked to visit the coutrs. To stem the crime right now in Ja you have to talk to the PRESIDENT.

Boss Ja is in very serious trouble.

[Historian]

Excellent Observation!

The real constitution is not found on any piece of paper, but within ourselves as a society as values and adherence to laws, rules and regulations and dictates whether society will allow the written constitution to function truly as intended or to ignore it except when it is convenient. If we let thieves, murderers, pimps and drug-dealers rule us and continue to let them rule us by facilitating the election of their politicians buddies every election cycle then it means something is truly wrong with us which no simple amendments on paper can fix.

An excellent point, Mike!

To further support your viewpoint, we only have to look at one of the world’s oldest democracies, England. What is highly unusual in England’s case is that it does NOT have a formal written constitution; that is, no formal document that passes as a constitution.

Rather, England operates as the successful country that it is through what is often referred to as “common law”. In other words, the practices and attitudes that are important to the proper functioning and development of that European island are known, but not written down. (Let me quickly add, though, that there are numerous court judgments and statutes that help to guide English society in its evolution.)

[Historian]

You Are Correct!

People in Jamaica must be numb to all mayhem, and in fact death is so common that we rarely see people rising up to protest inaction on the part of the authorities. There are some who would like Adams to return, a man who was identified as managing a death squad known as the Crime Management Unit. The time is right to break up the JCF and merge their operations and functions with the JDF.

Hortical, I agree fully with your statements above. In fact, this apparent numbness to violent death (and homicide is the most serious of all crimes) by the populace marks a danger sign for our country’s (in fact, any country’s) development!

In Jamaica, the response is often shock, followed sometimes by numerous calls to the radio call-in programs, then after a few days life returns to normal. I will always remember the response to the murder of prominent businessman Maurice Azan (someone with whom I’ve had friendly conversations on a couple of occasions in the past) by alleged extortionists. The private sector was very, very angry, so much so that public meetings were held and a formal declaration drawn up, signed and presented to the government.

I mention the above because this is the sense of outrage that should be shown by all law-abiding citizens and institutions in Jamaica at the murder of not only the wealthy, but also of the poorest innocent Jamaican who has been killed!! In other words, there should be a response of genuine and lasting outrage at the deaths of ALL innocent Jamaicans!

To this day I will never understand the “15-minute” response followed by a return to “things as usual” by the public when (in particular) children and women are killed!

[Muadib]

What is a life worth ?

The price of premature 'independence'..?

The 'worth' was probably higher when we were slaves (in some segments)

I guarantee you if on the plantation 26 slaves were found dead in the road... SOMEONE would be held to book...

Bitter irony..

[ReggaeMike]

The barbados reference is not relevant here, as we are dealing with the present and the barbados model does not fit.

Jawge, what are you talking about? The Barbados model fits and is relevant because Barbados and Jamaica still use constitutions that are virtual clones. This has nothing to do with the past alone. I’m talking about everything in the past and in the present day – “present continuous” so to speak. Think about it, would the Barbadian constitution or the US constitution being applied in Jamaica cause people to suddenly wake up and realize that we shouldn’t put up with slackness in society? No. Would changes in Jamaica’s constitution cause a change in society so that the authorities would shut down events like Sting until they are cleaned up (especially in terms of the fights that can occur there) and would those changes cause the majority of the public to back such a move by the authorities? No. That’s because changes in the written constitution more often than not occur only after there have been changes in the real constitution (the mental and moral constitution of society) and these changes to the written constitution then reflect those changes in society. Remember Prohibition in the US? That only got passed as an amendment to the constitution when there was enough change in society to allow such an amendment. Then when society as a whole disfavoured it, they repealed it. It's the same with Barbados. They have a decent written constitution and a healthy society (and thus a good real constitution; the constitution in one of the older senses of general health and temperament). That is why something like Sting would never and has never been staged in Barbados unless the organizers really got control of the event. Out here too many people either want an event like the Stings of old with bottles being thrown, gunshots an ever present possibility and a fight a near certainty or too many people are simply okay with allowing it to happen. This then gets reflected in our politics where too many people expect politicians to be dirty or are simply okay/resigned to the politicians being dirty and don't bother to take politics as seriously as they should. In other words we have become an irresponsible society. To fix that one would have to start addressing the children with civic education and a sense of pride (and shame) so that people won't think it is okay to vandalize or steal state or private property or to break laws and rules and so that people won't think it is okay to simply walk around and beg. After that we would probably find a society that becomes more law-abiding and the constitution which previously was being perceived as weak would be favourably compared to that of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Barbados, Mauritius and the UK.

You are right about criminals having their way with the politicians hence rendering the island a close relative of Somalia. Notice that the leader of the opposition must appear in court, so does the PSOJ and the police officer needs to be charged. Yet the accused isn't even asked to visit the coutrs. To stem the crime right now in Ja you have to talk to the PRESIDENT.

Boss Ja is in very serious trouble.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say Jamaica was like Somalia yet. Jamaica is trending towards being like Haiti though. I can recall hearing a news story from the time before the earthquake (it might have been after the coup against Aristide too) where some rank-and-file cop just happened to stop and search a vehicle being driven by a Haitian parliamentarian that was speeding and found something illegal in the vehicle (I think it was an illegal gun). The Haitian parliament (in a vote I believe) then got the cop punished or fired. I thought I must have been dreaming when I heard it, because I couldn’t fathom corruption being THAT bad, but alas it was no dream.

[ReggaeMike]

What is a life worth ?

The price of premature 'independence'..?

The 'worth' was probably higher when we were slaves (in some segments)

I guarantee you if on the plantation 26 slaves were found dead in the road... SOMEONE would be held to book...

Bitter irony..

Very true words Maudib.

Sad isn't it that the value of life seems to have decreased with emancipation and then independence. The quality of life has generally improved (people don't get whipped) but the more some things change the more some things remain the same (so young girls were being raped by massas and now they are being raped by the "new massas", the dons).