Dear Editor,

IN reference to your news reports (GC Jan 14, 15), I am pleased to read that the police appear to have solved the murders of the Henry boys of West Berbice; the killings led to days of violence against Indians. The arrested killers of the Henry boys are Indians, but race was not a factor in their killing. The police determined that drugs was the factor in the killings.  Apparently, the three accused and the two Henry boys knew each other, as we are learning from the police reports. The report suggests they were with each other on the night of the killing. Why the boys were killed and by whom will be determined at a trial.
It was wrong for the accused to kill the boys; it was a heinous crime. The accused, if found guilty, must go to the gallows, as those with whom I conversed suggest.
Race seemed to have been a factor in the killing of Haresh Singh; he could have been killed in reprisal of the two Henry cousins, or because he knew the Henry boys: Wrong place at the wrong time. Haresh was also a friend of the Henry boys.

As I penned from the outset in August, the killings were drugs-related. The police were looking at the wrong causes for the killings. Coconuts was never a reason for the killings. And the police initially held the wrong people for the killings; the police did an injustice to those people. It was the police’s confinement of the owners and workers of the land where the bodies were found that led to the wave of racially-inspired violence against Indians.
I happened to have studied criminology when I did my Sociology doctorate. The gruesome manner in which the two boys were killed immediately suggested to me it was drugs-related. I penned accordingly, and suggested that the police examine a drugs angle.

Haresh’s killing was tied to the murders of the Henry boys. But what has not been determined is why he was killed? Was it a race-related reprisal killing? Did he know something? Did he know who killed the two boys and was silenced? Did he stumble upon some drugs evidence? Did he know who harvested the marijuana, and burnt the fields that angered the killers of the Henry boys? Was there in-fighting over the ‘ganja’ fields? The three accused are not angels; they seem to have lived a life of crime, moving from one location to another, typical of growers of marijuana. The police will, in due time, provide answers to the above questions. Now that the police have solved the killing of the Henry boys, they need to do the same with Haresh’s unsolved case.
Clearly, as inferred by the police, there was a turf war over marijuana fields. In reading media reports, it is clear that the three accused come from different areas; they were lured by the planting of marijuana.

It is a lucrative business, and, apparently, they have been in the business for a while. As we’ve learnt, the three accused were angry over their weed being harvested and the fields burnt, but they were not certain who harvested and burnt the fields. They can’t go around killing people; drugs is a killer, not only because it destroys one’s health, but because it destroys the brain. The killers’ behaviour is unacceptable, even if they killed the boys while they were under the influence of weed, not acting rationally. They must be brought to justice, and it must be done expeditiously. Such a crime must not be tolerated. And strong measures are needed for drugs-related crimes.

Drugs is a big problem in the country; all over, youngsters are smoking weed. Government needs to address this menace.  As I’ve learnt from my studies in criminology, when a person is intoxicated from drugs, they act irrationally. They lose their senses; they engage in violent acts. It is a danger to human life; measures must be taken to deter the smoking of weed. Police must make raids on weed fields.
The police have not made any arrests in Haresh Singh’s killing. Now that they have solved the Henry boys’ killings, the people who killed Haresh Singh must also be brought to justice. It would be good if the police can bring closure to Haresh’s inquiry as well.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram