Victims fall prey across the divide

THE concerns of the wider society that this newspaper has repeatedly addressed, of magistrates and judges releasing violent criminals, who are sent on bail set, at ridiculous amounts, only to continue their career of robbing and even killing innocent members of society, seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Bleeding heart members of the society, excuse and sanction the activities of thieves on the basis of their poverty, while opportunistic politicians applaud and encourage the mainly strong young men to rob, rape, and kill the innocents on some nebulous grievance or the other; but catching a tiger by the tail is never a wise idea, because tigers are creatures of the wild and not amenable to control by anyone; but while tigers are noble creatures which to live unlike criminals who kill because, they refuse to adhere to the rules of civilisation, which dictate that a person must toil for their daily bread and not rob another person of their own.

Criminals are not bound by their conscience, because they have none, otherwise they would not have embarked on a career of crime in the first place, and no – one is safe from their predatory activities.

So across the divides victims fall prey, and one can only thank God that the young professional couple, Magistrate Nigel Hawke and his ambitious wife, who have so much to live for and to contribute to their society and our country, and whom are obviously beloved members of a family circle, were spared their lives. The valuables they lost are cheap in comparison.

Today marks the third anniversary, of the merciless killing of former Agriculture Minister Sash Sawh, his siblings, and security guard Curtis Robertson. The devastation and pain in the lives of their families and friends are incalculable; but they are mere statistics on the notches of the gun butts of the predators, who have chalked up many more killings, before and after these heinous acts.

And many, of the killers were proven to be perpetrators, out on bail after committing heinous acts against fellow citizens. When will our justice system recognise, that a criminal has no loyalty to anyone, and that when the opportunity provides itself to lock them away from a vulnerable society, they should enforce the full extent of their powers upon these scourges, because they or their loved ones could very well become the next victims.

Police become de-motivated when they pursue and catch criminals at risk to their own lives, only to see them back on the streets hours later.

It is merely by God’s grace that the Jagan family has not lost another member of their family. It seems that Mrs. van Beek’s life was saved by divine intervention, so a toddler and babe in arms still have their mother with them, but what of the many others who were not that fortunate?

According to Mrs. Hawke, the bandit who gained entrance to her home probably tried to open the door to his accomplices, but was unsuccessful; but what if he had managed to do so? Would the outcome have been another tragic statistic in the crime files of this country? If the perpetrator’s gun was empty, the possibility that his probable accomplices were fully primed, and the numbers would have overwhelmed the courageous young couple, with perhaps tragic consequences. Kudos to young Mrs. Hawke.

There should be special awards for citizens who perform exemplary acts of courage, of which there have been many – some have even sacrificed their lives trying to save the lives of others, like the Sawh siblings and the dray cart operator, who descended into a manhole emanating poisonous fumes to save the lives of absolute strangers, only to lose his own life in the process.

Minister Sash and all other victims, it is the nation’s prayer that you rest in peace; and Mrs. Van Beek and the young Hawke couple, the nation thanks God that your lives were spared.

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