The criminals in this country don’t fear the government at all. They don’t regard the laws of the land. I understand that approximately 300 or so career criminals are the ones responsible for all the mayhem Nassau is presently experiencing. These villains are holding over 200 thousand law-abiding citizens of New Providence hostage.
I have also noticed a very dangerous trend that is presently developing in Nassau. It appears that friends of murdered victims are now hiring hit men to bump off murder suspects who are released from prison. The governmnt must now take its head out of the sand and face this reality.
The fact that persons are now engaging in vigilante justice is an indication that they don’t have any more faith in the judicial system. They are just fed up with the system. As far as these vigilantes are concerned the justice system has failed them miserably. Therefore, since the system is hell-bent on releasing these cold-blooded murderers, the vigilantes are now going after them.
The judicial system is breeding a whole new kind of criminal in this country. Analysts have been warning for years now that this very dangerous situation would occur if the judicial system continues to tap murderers on the wrist.
No one paid them any mind. Now the chickens have come home to roost. My brother told me that while he was in a barbershop in Freeport City he overheard a young man, who appeared to be very upset, vowing that he would take revenge on a person whom he believed had murdered a family member of his.
This person was livid that the justice system had let the suspect in the case get off scot-free. I believe that the government must now move to implement drastic measures in order to put an end to this crime wave that is gripping The Bahamas.
The murder rate has skyrocketed in 2011. So far for the year, we have had a staggering 72 murders committed in the first 6 months and several days in this small country.
We are becoming like lawless Jamaica. Armed robberies and house break-ins are rampant, especially in the inner city of Nassau, New Providence. Governments were instituted by God to punish criminals. When the government fails to carry out its God-given mandate to punish murderers, thieves and rapists, then these monsters will continue to break the law.
I think that the government has been too soft in its approach to dealing with these criminals. It is high time that the government started executing murderers and rapists. The criminals who are terrorizing Nassau know that institutions like the Privy Council are fighting tooth and nail to keep them from marching to the gallows. The government should immediately abandon the Privy Council. We are an independent nation. We have been independent now for 38 years.
Why is the government so afraid to execute convicted murderers?
A relative of mine told me that a young man who was convicted of murder bragged to her about killing a young woman who had rejected his sexual advances.
According to my relative, the ex-convict appeared to be very proud that he had killed another human being.
There was absolutely no remorse in the young man. These are the kinds of persons that defence attorneys and the judicial system are both fighting hard for.
Yet we wonder why so many persons are now taking matters into their own hands by engaging in vigilante justice. The family members of murdered and raped victims know that the culprits are going to get a simple tap on the wrist for their hideous crimes.
The government had better start executing convicted murderers before this new trend gets way out of control. Otherwise Nassau will become another Gunsmoke’s Dodge City.
The government must also give serious thought to implementing corporal punishment for sex offenders, like paedophiles, sodomites and rapists. These sex offenders should be flogged in public. Those who are contemplating committing rape, or any other sexual offence, would think twice before going through with their crime if they were to see a convicted sex offender publicly humiliated. These rapists must be taught a lesson.
In regards to armed robbers and thieves; the state should make them pay restitution to those whom they have stolen from. For instance, if a thief steals a $800 laptop from me, he should be made to pay me fourfold for his theft. That would mean he would pay me $3,200 for my laptop. This was the law that God gave to Old Testament Israel, in Exodus chapter 22. I understand that the prison system already has a work programme. The thieves should work off their debt before being released from prison. If they are unwilling to do this, then let them rot in prison.
I often hear persons talking about convicts paying their debt to society. But how is a convict paying his debt to society when he hasn’t been forced to make some kind of restitution to the person he has wronged? He may have repaid the state by serving time in Fox Hill Prison, but let us bear in mind that he had wronged a private citizen, not the state. This is unfair to the person who was wronged.
This has to change in order to bring to a screeching halt this menacing crime wave that is destroying this country.
Additionally, persons found in possession of an illegal firearm should get an automatic 10 years in prison. There are too many illegal guns on the streets of New Providence.
In regards to drug traffickers, they should be put to death. Drug trafficking is a capital offence in Singapore.
Drug dealers would think twice before engaging in their illegal trade in this country. How many persons have died from a drug overdose?
How many of us have had items stolen from us by drug addicts, who then sold them in order to buy more drugs? I believe that many of the murders that are committed in this country are somehow connected to the illicit drug trade.
Granted, these are radical. But these are unusual times.
Kevin Evans
Freeport, Grand Bahamas
July, 2011
