The headlines about killing are nothing new. Again, sadly, bulb-ridden bodies are nothing new. Getting out of prison is nothing new. Harbor and assisting criminals are nothing new. Gun battles between criminals and the police are also nothing new. We have been addressing these wrongs for too long.
Unsolved crime is also nothing new – often not because they cannot be solved, but because corruption pervades even the institutions where those who are supposed to be the basis of the law are upheld is operating. Offenders and law officers sometimes have the same faces. The price of selling someone’s integrity and ignoring oaths to protect and serve can be cheap here. We listened to an interview with prisoner Mohammed Ali, who escaped from Georgetown Public Hospital. In that interview he said he did not escape but paid US $ 5000 for his freedom. So often, I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone.
There were photos of the murder of gold miner Ricardo Fagundes. With a high-powered rifle he was shot several times. It was like an acting movie we saw before. Why are people always killed near Palm Court I thought when I saw the news.
News of executions can trigger stress disorders and triggered my encounter of PTSD when I learned of Fagundes’ execution. We couldn’t help the flashbacks when gun battles were a regular occurrence; when I used to lie on the floor waiting for gun shots to pop up and suffer sleepless nights. Being on the road at night was dangerous, but the truth is, being on the road at any time was dangerous because those involved in gun crime would strike at any time.
A burnt-out vehicle was found on Linden Highway hours after Ricardo Fagundes was executed. This is presumed to be the one in which the killers escaped. It is presumed to be an attempt to get rid of evidence. I was amazed that the killers would go to such lengths as this is a place where they can even escape murder even when killers are known. Perhaps those killers were not afraid of law enforcement but rather of those who are above the law and who might seek revenge.
It’s no secret that a scapegoat sometimes stands in place of criminal chiefs. Sometimes it’s an attempt to silence the people. But we see it. We know when there are attempts to deceive us. Not all of us are ‘sheepdogs’. We are empowered when we divorce ourselves from the behavior of the herd. Many may be afraid to speak the truth publicly in case of persecution. Death has knocked on the doors of men and women who chose to speak truth and some of their deaths are unsolved crimes. We talk in private. Rumors of motives. Rumors of those who may seem decent men and women but who are in the dark stages of corruption and criminality.
Many are still asking who killed Courtney Crum-Ewing despite an accused man. In the case of Joel and Isaiah Henry, I have watched their relatives call for the ‘real’ killers to be charged even though men have also been charged. I have watched the accused deny it was him. But few killers will admit to killing them. Do you think Fagundes killers will be discovered and charged?
As we continued around in circles, darkness continued this week when there was a clash in Demerara on the East Coast of Better Hope between police and prisoners Imran Ramsaywack and Rayon Jones, who escaped from Mazaruni Prison in February. Did they swim across the river to reach the East Coast? Were they in disguise if they came by boat? I find it difficult to know that an offender like Ramsaywack, who murdered Samantha Benjamin in 2015 and dismembered her body could have escaped from jail in Region 7 and made her way to Region 4 safely.
Both escapes were killed during the confrontation with police but there was also the body of a woman who was not initially known. She was later identified as 49-year-old Savita Rajkumar. It is thought that he may have been providing shelter for the escape. I have known others like her. Ones who would weep at the funerals of known criminals because they benefit from their criminality. She regretted losing her life.
We often experience déjà vu as we repeatedly address the same issues. And as I’ve said so many times, our refusal to change or challenge the status quo is part of the reason we’re still going around in these circles. There are those who would rather exist in fear than stand up for justice. There are those who would rather shoot a gun, execute and escape from prison than challenge the system that has allowed the criminals in our society to become so strong.
Do we love ourselves as a nation when the conditions for mental anguish and fear are present and all we do is talk, speculate, hope and pray? Whether it be the actions of our leaders, the failure to educate, or the failure to provide the tools to elevate those at risk, this society creates many angry, desperate and soulless people. But even with tools in place, there are those who don’t want to make progress by honest means. Many want to get rich quickly and will do anything. Some want to be humiliated because it somehow validates their existence.
With every offender killed or imprisoned, several others appear to be taking their place. Poverty is the root cause for those choosing a life of crime and not enough is being done to close the gap between the rich and the poor. Unfair distribution of wealth, poor wages and salaries, unemployment, a failing education system, and poor role models are some issues that contribute to criminal behavior.
Young people need good role models so they don’t think that choosing a life of crime is a choice. We need role models who constantly reinforce that selling souls for a few dollars could put money in someone’s pockets, but the morally corrupt will always be bad. Ignoring compassion in your heart and murdering without a second thought will not bring peace. What’s the life of always being on the run? What is a life of living in fear? What is life like when you can’t predict a future?
When those involved in criminality decide to kill their enemies, the common man or bystanders can lose their lives as well. Therefore, we cannot ignore it and pretend that it does not or will not affect us. Maybe not you, but a relative, friend or companion could be the victim. We all have a responsibility to stop this going around in circles. We must change the shape of our future and create paths that take us forward instead of bringing us back to the same dilemma over and over again. But will we?