THE nation has been sent into a state of shock with the senseless killing of five persons as a result of a man going berserk. What may have triggered his “tripping out” is anybody’s guess; and now that he is dead we may never know the answer to that question. But what we do know is that it is a tragedy of immense proportions as we have lost two courageous lawmen, a taxi driver, taxi dispatcher and of course the man who went berserk. This means therefore that the surviving relatives and loved ones would perhaps have to endure life-long trauma and emotional agony.

This unfortunate and tragic incident certainly signals that something is radically wrong in our society and that violence and killings have reached an alarming level. Therefore there is a need to urgently arrest and reverse this troubling and worrisome trend before it is too late.
Apart from the loss of life, limbs and property, increasing, violent behaviour has the potential of undermining stability and the social fabric of any nation. And there are numerous examples around the world today and in the past which demonstrate this.
According to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, violence causes more than 1.6 million deaths worldwide every year. More than 90% of these occur in low and middle-income countries. Violence is one of the leading causes of death in all parts of the world for persons ages 15 to 44.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that worldwide, an estimated 250 000 homicides occur among youth 10–29 years of age each year. This is 41% of the total number of homicides, globally, each year. Youth homicide rates vary dramatically between and within countries. However, in all countries, young males constitute both the majority of perpetrators and victims of homicide. Rates of youth homicide among females are much lower than rates among males almost everywhere. In the years 1990–2004, rates of youth homicide have increased in many developing countries, and declined in several developed countries.
For every young person killed by violence, 20–40 more sustain injuries that require hospital treatment. Non-fatal, violent injuries involve substantially fewer firearm attacks than fatal assaults and involve a greater use of fists, feet, knives and clubs.
Sexual violence also affects a significant proportion of youth. For example, 3–24% of women surveyed in the WHO Multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence, report that their first sexual experience was forced. Physical fighting and bullying are also common among young people. A study of 40 developing countries showed that exposure to bullying ranged from 8.6–45.2% in boys and from 4.8–35.8% in girls.
Youth homicide and non-fatal violence not only contribute greatly to the global burden of premature death, injury and disability, but also have a serious, often life-long impact on a person’s psychological and social functioning. This can affect victims’ families, friends and communities. Youth violence adds greatly to the costs of health, welfare and criminal justice services; reduces productivity; decreases the value of property; and generally undermines the fabric of society.
Violence breeds violence and it should be discouraged and curbed whenever and wherever it raises its ugly head. The goal of every society should be to strive towards becoming a violence-free one because only in peace and harmony can real progress be achieved.
In fostering that goal, we need to work collectively with a deep sense of commitment at all levels of society and among every community and groups of people.