Inching to 600 murders for 2023

THE EDITOR: I read the tragic story of a young 33-year-old man who was shot multiple times and badly wounded while sitting in a car at Laventille.

The unfortunate victim was rushed by the police to the Port of Spain General Hospital and minutes later declared dead. Reasons are unknown for the shooting and the story ended with the usual "investigations are continuing."

This all-too-familiar scene occupied a mere six lines of space or a single paragraph as reported in a daily newspaper, demonstrating once again how cold and unaffected we have evolved as a society by simply accepting the daily high frequency of gruesome murders in our country.

Indeed, we have all grown immune over the years to this epidemic of murder and mayhem in our once idyllic TT, a place where life is now regarded as cheap. The high-powered weapons pouring through our pregnable borders is considered the weapon of choice by the criminally minded to end lives forever.

Our endangered young men are being ruthlessly gunned down for frivolous reasons. Murders are classified by the police as either gang-related, drug-related or motive unknown. The situation worsens given the police's unfavourable (13 per cent) solve rate, which leads me to think of the unimaginable grief families are brought to bear in the face of these brutal killings, most of which remain unsolved or relegated to the back burner.

Grieving families are left with little or no hope for justice or closure for their loved ones and so, the suffering continues.

Statistics indicate the north, north eastern, north central and eastern divisions are leading the way with the daily murder count. The months of January and September show an astonishing murder toll of 61 and 60, respectively. March was an unusually slow month with a tally of just 38 recorded murders, a possible respite following an active Carnival season.

We are now nearing the end of December and inching up to the unenviable 600 murder mark for 2023. Given this unremarkable state of affairs, my single wish for our bleeding country come 2024 is for a drastic decline in the murder rate.

May God continue to bless us all to live to see another day.

BARRY S BISSESSAR

Fyzabad