HEADLINES are screaming every day, in Guyana and right across the globe, of the atrocities being committed by humans against each other, with all the socio-economic, emotional, psychological consequences and detrimental impacts to families, communities, nations and the world at large, with no end in sight. Rather, there appears to be an escalation of brutality within the human condition.

The media in Guyana reported last Monday, October 26, that a 19-year-old construction worker was murdered at Anna Catherina, on the West Coast Demerara, allegedly by another teenager.

Sanjay Hanoman, a construction worker of Fourth Street, Anna Catherina, was, according to an eyewitness, chopped with a cutlass by another 19-year-old, who has since been arrested for the heinous crime. The incident was witnessed by a 17-year-old, said to be a friend of the victim.
But what was even more reprehensible was that a teenager – someone’s son, grandson, brother, friend – was left for over an hour to bleed to death, because no-one wanted blood to mess up the seat of their vehicle.

The report stated: “The eyewitness quickly rushed to Hanoman’s assistance, where he observed blood pouring from the young man’s leg.”
According to the Guyana Police Force, the 17-year-old tried to get help for over an hour “… but was unable to do so by himself, since no one else was willing to help transport [the victim] to the hospital.” And the atrocities continue. Another October 26 news headline read: “New Amsterdam student hospitalised after being stabbed by 41-year-old man.”
The report read, in part: “The Guyana Police Force said the student and his friend were standing on the road when the suspect passed by and jeered the teenager that his mother, who is a nurse, is infected with COVID-19.”

During the ensuing argument, the suspect stabbed the teenager with an ice-pick.
Another news item related that US citizen Hemwattie Abdulla, 43, called “Anita Nazeema Khan”, formerly of Albion, Corentyne and of Ozone Park, New York, USA, and her accomplice, Surojinie Permaul, 49, of Belvedere New Housing Scheme, Corentyne, Berbice, were on trial for the murder of Abdool Shakeel Majid, called “Shakiel”.
Majid, a citizen of the USA, was reportedly killed between April 23 and April 27, 2012 in Berbice. There was an arrangement that saw Seerujnie Permaul, called “Surojnie” and “Usha”, paying money to Pooran Jhadoo, at the request of Hemwattie Abdulla to kill Majid.

Permaul was lured with US$5000 to procure the services of her son-in-law to help commit the act.
Rohan Persaud, of Crabwood Creek, Corentyne, Berbice, has been charged with the murder of his friend, Ganesh Permaul, on September 17.
The alleged murderer is a father of three young children. Presumably, the victim has also left family members to grieve.

Last Sunday evening, 86-year-old Bibi Nasmonisha Ramjit was found dead, with her mouth gagged, in her La Grange, West Bank Demerara (WBD) home. Her house was reportedly ransacked, so she was apparently killed during the commissioning of a robbery.

On August 28, 2020, INews reported that three persons had been remanded to prison for the murder, committed sometime between August 16 to August 20, 2020, of 23-year-old Nicholas Ramkissoon Jaipaul, a Canadian national, who was holidaying with his 86-yr-old grandfather in Guyana, and was forced to remain in the country because of a coronavirus-enforced lockdown of airports.

The report related that Monasar Beharry, called “Brickhead”, the alleged mastermind behind the young man’s murder, had contracted the maid’s son and his friend in a vengeance killing, because of a land dispute with the victim’s grandfather.

Plato philosophised that a person can change to be a better person if he changes his whole soul towards the light.
However, unless and until this phenomenon affects and enlightens the entire human family, these tragic episodes will continue to darken the existence of Mankind on Planet Earth. Would it take another flood, as in Noah’s era, to obliterate the evil in the world, so that coming generations may survive in a world devoid of strife and human conflict?