Kids in firing line - Advocates outraged by spate of child murders
Published:Thursday | July 14, 2011 | 12:00 AM
- Call for more efforts to catch perpetrators
Nadisha Hunter, Staff Reporter
Decrying recent violent attacks on the nation's youth, local child advocacy organisations yesterday called for greater efforts to be made in bringing the perpetrators to justice and deterring future offenders.
"There are a lot of times that children are abused and/or murdered and we don't hear anything about it," lamented Gloria Thompson, policy officer in the Office of the Children's Advocate (OCA). "We are not sure whether or not the persons were convicted and sentenced."
She added: "But we want to ensure that we send a message out there that we want the prosecution of these perpetrators to be an example to others that the murdering of children is not accepted and is not tolerated."
Thompson's statement came a day after nine-year-old Shadaday 'Poochie' Harrison of Lime Tree Grove in Spanish Town, St Catherine, was shot dead by unknown assailants at her home. One of her relatives was also shot and injured in the incident.
The policy officer was speaking almost two weeks after six-year-old Teonia Henry's body was found with several stab wounds in Jarrett Lane, off Mountain View Avenue in Kingston. Seventeen-year-old Khajeel Mais' shooting death, reportedly at the hands of the driver of a BMW X6 sport utility vehicle, also occurred about two weeks ago. The suspect in that case remains behind bars, awaiting interrogation by the police.
Thompson said the OCA was outraged by the number of children who have been murdered recently and was calling for persons to give information to the authorities when they can and take part in efforts to ensure that killers are caught.
"It is not tolerated. It is not OK to kill our children just like that, so we want justice to be served for our children," she declared.
Convener of Hear The Children's Cry, Betty Ann Blaine, said enough was not being done to understand and prevent child killers from acting out their crimes.
"We are not being successful as we ought to bring the perpetrators to justice but, to take it a step further, we need to see if we can do the requisite psychiatric and psychological evaluations to determine who kills children," Blaine charged.
In the meantime, Teonia's mother, Lorraine Carpenter, is pleading for assistance to find her daughter's killer.
"I am asking persons who saw the incident to go to the nearest police station and tell them who the killer is. It is time we know who is responsible for my daughter's death," Carpenter said.
She noted that even though it would not bring and end to the pain of losing her only daughter, finding the killer would make a huge difference.
Superintendent Michael Bailey, head of the Kingston East Police Division, said the police had yet to make any headway in locating the person responsible for the brutal slaying of the child.
Bailey said the suspect who was taken into custody has been released, as there was not enough evidence to charge him for the crime.