When a prank turns deadly
Published:Sunday | September 19, 2010 | 12:00 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
Children's Advocate Mary Clarke believes that the incident in which a homeless man was killed after he was set on fire, allegedly by a group of boys, mirrors the country's social ills.
"I think it is pathetic that children could be so heartless to do something like that," Clarke told The Sunday Gleaner.
"I think it should be of great concern to the nation that children could be on the streets at that hour of the morning."
Fifty-four-year-old Lionel Maitland was reportedly doused with an inflammatory substance and set ablaze about 2 a.m. as he slept on a sidewalk along Barnett Street in Montego Bay on September 11. Maitland died at hospital while undergoing treatment.
Three boys were taken into police custody in connection with the killing while a search is under way for four others. No formal charges have been levelled against the boys, who are reported to be between the ages of eight and 13, and who were reportedly staying with relatives at the nearby Charles Gordon Market.
"This could be a call for the authorities to seriously consider care facilities, one that operates in the nights, for parents who have to struggle so hard for a living and have nowhere to keep their children," said Clarke.
Joy Crooks, administrator of Community Upliftment for the Mentally Ill, which has a close working relationship with street people in Montego Bay, agrees with the children's advocate.
"It is a very unfortunate thing that has happened with the youngsters. They are just displaying the lack of care and love that should exist in our society," she stated. "It shows the kind of social problems that we have in our society as some of our youngsters are growing without any sense of social responsibility and empathy."
Dr Beverley Scott, child and family therapist, believes that any child who could commit such a callous act must be suffering from the worst case of conduct disorder.
"A child who suffers from this disorder is very aggressive to people and animals. If allowed to continue without receiving treatment, when the child becomes 18 years of age, he or she will develop what is known as antisocial personality behaviour," Scott said.
Persons with antisocial personality have the propensity to kill, rape, or destroy property or people for no apparent reason.