I was on the verge of placing a comment on the recent capture of 8 year old Hope’s murderer – Sunil Ali, but held back for a bit for some reason. Part of it was to gauge the reactions by the members of the public. It was forceful and to the point as can be expected. If I am not mistaken, the last check also revealed that politicians collectively are moving beyond outrage and blame to finally push through some stagnant outstanding pieces of legislation that are geared towards child protection. Nothing like a major embarrassing, ugly, brutal and disgusting act to force politician’s hands in the interest of the people. Crowds were large near the Chaguanas courts, taxi drivers were getting ticketed, mothers were angry, fathers as well, defense lawyers shied away, and even prisoners threw in their two cents in anger and threatened possible harm towards this man for what he did.

I was about to suggest caution as some of the most foolish things are often done during heated emotional moments. One needed to be careful and not disregard this wonderful citizen’s fundamental human rights and so anger another segment of the population. Low and behold, he was found dead in his cell, with a slit on his wrist as good measure. Very convenient I thought. He should have known that prisoners and prison officers are also fathers. Funnily enough, it was almost two months ago that I found myself around 2:00 am traveling from Arima in a taxi that had one other passenger. The big news of the day was another grevious act by a male that felt slighted and took revenge on his wife through his kids, by killing himself and poisoning them. The passenger and taxi driver were also outraged and threatened to do serious harm if they got their hands on him. Now this development.

I am not too much into psychology and their hereditary explanations, and have had my fill of Dr Deosaran over the years as he put forward hundreds of theories as to criminality. After Abu Bakar’s thuggish attack on my country, I gave up on such findings. Here was an individual that went to study in Canada, became a Muslim, returned home , got a piece of free land , pretended to do good , then began dabbling in politics ,married four wives ,then tried to overthrow government, and walk away without paying any price. The cost to the state was millions of dollars, and a very tarnished image. I just got lost by it all, as hereditary factors did not explain this. As I fast forward to today, I was therefore curious to hear the comments and observations of Clinical Psychologist of St.Anns Hospital Dr. Krisna Marahaj as he also lamented after the fact. He speculated about previous inappropriate and sexual relationship between the child and her 28 year old stepfather .He spoke about moral and legal obligations of society, as well as possible mental health of the perpetrator. It was nothing much that we did not know before. Poor neglected folks, trying to survive under dire circumstances. A relationship that went hay wire and a child replacing the role of the mom for sadistic pleasures. It’s been documented before, and you can bet occur again before the ‘2000 package of legislation for the protection of the child,’ is implemented.
Listen good folks, take it from me, gruesome crimes in our country will not only be eradicated by though legislations. We have enough on the books. We have to ensure also that a level laying field develops across the nation. Swift justice must be handed out where applicable for all criminals in equal measures irrespective of class or background. Likewise, we must attempt to distribute equitably benefits of our resources for every citizen before trying to save the Caribbean. In essence, Charity begins at home. It is the formula that great countries have adopted. If these two deaths are simply fodder for the talk shows guru such as Umballa, Dr Job and – is it the undertaker or equalizer?-, then it was wasted. If it galvanizes the nation to meaningful social actions then that’s a positive outcome.