Jamaica's To-Be-Murdered List

Every Jamaican, who lives is Jamaica, is on a to-be-murdered list. If you are a Jamaican living in Jamaica who disbelieves this then you are in denial. Your day to be murdered has not come yet. But but based on the current trend of random murders, your day will come. Until then, consider yourself lucky.

It doesn't have to be this way. Together, we have the power to change this. Jamaicans, rich and poor, must take a very serious stand against violence in Jamaica and demand that the government of Jamaica do more to make Jamaica a safe place. There are many things that can be done to sustainably reduce murders in Jamaica. The solutions will come from the use of the imagination and with the commitment of resources to address the problem. The excuse of lack of resources is unacceptable. The very first priority of the Jamaican government should be to protect the lives of its citizens.

Here is a list of four, out of many, things that can be done to arrest murders in Jamaica:

1. Triple the police force. There should be sustained police presence on the streets of Jamaica 24 hrs every day.

2. An elaborate PR campaign that uses the media via public service announcements etc to call on the Jamaican people to reject violence and aggression

3. Strengthen the justice system. Where there is no justice there will be mob and vigilante rule. This includes seriously improve the way in which witnesses to crimes are sought and protected.

4. New legislation is needed to seriously punish illegal gun slingers in Jamaica. The mere idea of carrying an illegal gun in Jamaica should leave people fearful, since the penalty for doing so is severe.

Wake up Jamaica. We cannot continue along this path.

LIFE IS SACRED.

The Witness Dilemma

There is an urgent need to significantly improve the way witnesses to murders are sought and protected in Jamaica. Until this area of the justice system is properly addressed murderers will continue to walk free and will just move on to there next murder. Wake up Jamaica. We must hold our government accountable and demand that they do more to protect us from becoming victims of murder:

Murder suspects freed after witness no-show
published: Thursday | November 2, 2006

Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

The three men who were accused of murdering three persons in Bayshore Park, eastern Kingston, in an alleged reprisal for the killing of two men, were freed on Monday because of the unavailability of the main Crown witness.

They are 29-year-old Dwyane Shaw, 42-year-old Trevor Hunter and 38-year-old Aaron Christie, of Bayshore Park.

The case was set for trial in the Home Circuit Court but Donald Bryan, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, told Mr. Justice Lloyd Hibbert that the Director of Public Prosecutions took the decision not to proceed with the trial. Mr. Bryan said Monday was the third trial date and there was uncertainty as to when the main witness for the prosecution would be available.

The judge told the accused that if at any time the witness became available then the case might proceed against them.

Defence lawyers Norma Linton, Q.C., Dianne Jobson, Christopher Townsend and Robert Armstrong, who represented the men, said two of them had been in custody for more than a year.

Allegations

The allegations were that 47-year-old Ivenora Campbell and her son, 27-year-old Miguel Panton, and their friend 43-year-old Everton Brown were shot dead at Campbell's home early on the morning of April 17, 2004.

The triple murder was reported at the time to be a reprisal for the murder of Rodney Leroy Far-quharson and Dayton 'Scotchbrite' Williams, both of Bayshore Park.

The men's burnt bodies with gunshot wounds were found in an open lot on Rose Lane, near Matthews Lane, downtown Kingston, on April 15 last year.

Well-known Matthews Lane resident, 50-year-old Donald 'Zekes' Phipps, and 31-year-old farmer, Garfield Williams, of Bayshore Park, were charged with the murder of Farquharson and Williams.

Williams, who is the son of the deceased Campbell, was freed on a no-case submission while Phipps was convicted in May of the double murder. Phipps was sentenced in June to life imprisonment and ordered to serve 30 years before he becoming eligible for parole. He is appealing against his convictions and sentences.

LIFE IS SACRED.