THEY have paid the ultimate price, most of them in a gruesome way.I speak of someone losing his/her life due to the inhumane, inconsiderate action of another.  Many of the victims are hapless women mowed down by  jealous mates. Even children are not spared the wrath of this onslaught, hacked to death in their sleep. They are kids who would never be able to grow up because their lives would have been cut short by an out-of-control father, husband or boyfriend. I speak not of some backward, uncivilised society lest anyone should wonder but of our dear old Guyana; murders of the worst kind committed right here in our midst.
As if the crime is not enough, the situation becomes more grievous when you realise that the perpetrators of these dastardly deeds are still among us because they have been given little or no time for these horrific acts.
It makes one think very hard and long as to what is really going on in this country. Then it forces me to ask the following questions:  have we reached the stage where we are infatuated with crime? Have we really seen so much bloodshed and killings that it has become one of those days? Is it just another one of those stories of man killing woman? Or just another one of those stories of a man killing children? Is it another newsflash of a man getting rid of his “property”? Or should I posit, are we treating human life in the callous, insensitive way the criminals do?  Really! Have we become insensitive to crimes of the worst kind?  Let’s think about it; have we now become so humane that proper sentencing for criminals becomes a worry. Or are we making a political public relations stunt when maximum, severe punishment is to be meted out to the perpetrator? Or are we afraid that our prisons would be overpopulated? Something is definitely wrong with Guyana if the foregoing questions cannot get answers and I am going to get to the bottom of it in the next few articles I will write.

The last of these questions I think is my most urgent task finding out the real cause for these innocuous sentences when serious crimes are dealt with. Yes, I think I have put my finger on the right reason behind the paltry time men get for snuffing out the lives of others. This is the cause there is an upsurge;for this cause there is the prevalence of murders.  Because if we do care about the crippling effect these crimes have on the present society  and on that which is to come, we would do something to stem the tide, or, at least put these men in a place where we can be free of their debilitating influence. This is what we are not doing which has given the criminal-minded the impetus to continue their criminality. The list is long, yes, ever gruesome. Every week we read of these horrific acts.
But thank God there is a man, a judge who is not afraid to do his job. He is not intimidated by politics, popularity, or this nonsensical argument of race. He sees no colour, creed nor status when justice is to be carried out.
I make mention of Justice Davindra Singh, a judge of no mean order. He is on the bench and woe be unto those (men beware) who think that they can commit murder and get away with it. Dear readers please look out for more of my articles on this wonderful judge.