Call for CDA to probe child killings
Published:Tuesday | March 15, 2022 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A call is being sounded from the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) for the Child Development Agency (CDA) and other child-focused organisations to get proactive on investigating recent child killings that have taken place in the parish and the wider country.
Arthur Lynch, the StJMC’s councillor for the Montego Bay South East division, made the call during Thursday’s monthly meeting of the municipal corporation, following Wednesday night’s gun-slaying of 19-year-old twin brothers Jevaughn and Jevaughnie Stewart and their 11-year-old sister, Petagaye Cooke , in the Irwin Heights community.
“I am wondering if there is an attack on our children of this nation as just recently, we had the murder of a nine-year-old, which is unsolved, and now we have teenagers and also a minor who were killed just last night [Wednesday]. I am now calling on the CDA to reach out and try to find out what is taking place with these killings,” Lynch told the meeting, while also referencing the January 13 abduction and murder of nine-year-old Gabriel King.
INTERVENTION TO ADDRESSCRIME AND VIOLENCE
“We must let persons know that the StJMC does not condone these types of killings. I am calling on the CDA and the child agencies of Jamaica to make an intervention because crime and violence on our youngsters are taking a toll at this time,” Lynch added.
According to reports concerning the Stewart twins and Petagaye Cooke, the three were at home in Irwin Heights at about 8 p.m. when armed men forced their way inside the premises and opened gunfire, killing them on the spot. It is also alleged that the brothers had previously been attacked by a group of men, with Wednesday night’s deadly incident stemming from that encounter.
Concerning the case of Gabriel King, for which a probe is currently under way, the nine-year-old child was allegedly abducted from his mother along the Tucker main road in St James after she was reportedly carjacked by assailants who dragged her from her motor car and took the vehicle with the child still in the back seat.
King was later found with his throat slashed in the back of the vehicle, which was found abandoned off the Fairfield main road in Montego Bay.
During Thursday’s meeting, Lynch also stressed that citizens must be more proactive in collaborating with the security forces to stem the tide of crime in the parish.
“The Government had launched the ‘get the guns’ campaign, but now I am calling on the citizens of St James to also come out and speak against these perpetrators. There are far too many crimes taking place in St James … what are we waiting on? We need the public to come out and speak,” Lynch argued.
Meanwhile, Montego Bay’s Deputy Mayor Richard Vernon, who chaired the meeting, said that crime flourishes in part because of residents’ reluctance to tell the police what they know.
“The matter of crime is one that we have grappled with for many years. We cannot, at any point in time, allow these persons [criminals] to deteriorate the moral fabric of society, but we also have persons in the community who stay and suffer with certain information and they refuse to give it to the police,” said Vernon.
“Because of that, the police find it difficult in policing and assisting communities in these situations. We have to encourage the members of communities to get on board, support the Government’s initiative to get the guns, and give the information to the police,” Vernon added.
Up to March 8, St James had recorded 45 murders, seven more than had been recorded during the corresponding period last year.