When I heard the news that a Sandy Point bad man had been shot by the police I was beside myself with joy. But when I called the police and they told me that it was in his foot that he got shot, I deflated a little.
It might seen a bit ambivalent when the big crusader against capital punishment feels glad when the police opens deadly fire on an armed bad man.
But there is really a distinction. Any bad man who thinks he is bad enough to level deadly fire at a law enforcer must have his fire pre-empted and if the police targets his foot and catches his head instead, all is fair in war.
This is different altogether from the cold-blooded execution of a convict after letting him languish for years in a condemned cell.
These bad men are hardened criminals, a state which they reached while still in their youth. This Sandy Point bad man was bad long time; he has been through the juvenile courts, where he drew time in probation, graduating from each probation a bit worse than before.
Now he has reached the point in his early manhood where he could calmly break into a house, look for the owner’s car keys, drive the car all round the island, stopping off at certain houses marked for his plunder.
Armed to the teeth, he produces his guns, freezes the occupants, robs them and calmly drives to the next stop.
Having completed his night’s work, he calmly parks up in Irish Town and calmly heads towards the car again. Nobody would believe the car was not his, that he had stolen it. He seemed oblivious to the fact that the owner would alert the police and that they would be looking for him. Or perhaps he just did not care for he had his guns in the car to protect him.
This is a young man possessed by an evil spirit and I must be frank and say that I am sorry the police bullet did not stray to a more vulnerable part of his body.
The police deserve commendation for the offensive which they have now taken against the young hooligans who think that they were put here to mess up other people’s world. Good work, police and keep it up!
They will fail sometimes and perhaps overkill but let everything be done in the defense of the goodness of this country, which these desperados are trying to destroy.
Shooting criminals who are armed and dangerous will not be the only measure expected from the police. There are of course longer term strategies in the war against crime. Many of these strategies must begin in the juvenile court when these youngsters begin to show their penchant for gangstersism.
When the police have prepared their cases and the magistrates and the judges have determined the type of probationary treatment for the juvenile defenders the probation officers must be relentless in ensuring that the fiat of the court is followed to the letter. There are numerous cases of probationers not obeying the curfew and pulling the wool over the eyes of their probation officers by finding employment which they do not intend to keep.
I pity the poor frustrated probation officers whose soft hearts allow these young potential criminals to fool them into complacency; who have to face on a daily basis the quiet and well-calculated disdain for them of the probationers.
And I plead with the authorities to make the probation officers’ work easier by giving them more control over the youthful deviants who are carefully planning to become adult criminals.
If the authorities are serious about crime-arrest and its drastic decline, they would do something immediately about these young jackasses who call themselves Bloods and Cripps and walk about with handkerchiefs hanging from the pockets to identify themselves, and creating havoc in our community.
Gangsterism must be made illegal in St. Kitts and Nevis. All gangsters should be arrested, put into a boot camp, kept there for at least one year while they get purged of their assininity by a radical makeover. During this year, they should pick skills to learn: Bricklaying, carpentry, tailoring, fishing and planting.
If a year is not sufficient for some of them to understand the error of their ways, give them 18 months or two years. Don’t let them back into civilized society till they show by their body language that they appreciate what it is to be law abiding.
The next thing that the police must think about is what to do with the crooked lawyers among us. The recent case of Devon (X) Williams has left a bad taste which lingers as the case unfolds.
Four young heartless criminals were allowed to walk out of the courthouse free without answering to the serious crimes for which they were accused.
Devon Williams was thrown out of his job at the defense force for his part in the deal, and though I regard him as a son, I could not disagree with the outcome, because he did foolishly and without regard for the protection which he had received against these same lads who constantly threatened to kill him and offered, at various times, to bribe him.
But X is not the only culprit here; there were other players in this sordid drama, some smarter and more powerful than Devon – the lawyer for the accused, for instance.
I am no lawyer myself but I think there is a crime called conspiring to pervert the course of justice. I invite the police to look closely at this case and see if it contains any of the ingredients of this crime.
According to what I heard, Devon was invited to sign a letter. We do not know what pressure they put him under or what incentive they offered him, but I understand that one of his uncles got into the picture and negotiated the settlement at $6,000. Devon, who is not a good reader, signed two letters – not one – to send the fellows home. Ironically, the case was settled without the $6,000 having been passed.
I leave it to the police with their newfound mood of aggression against crime, including white-collar crime, to look into this matter.
As far as I am aware, the job of a criminal lawyer is to defend his clients against those who accuse them of a crime. In my limited understanding of the law, this seems to mean that the criminal lawyer will give his clients their day in court to answer to the charges against them. His task then is to demonstrate to the court that the prosecution has not proved the case. If he succeeds, the case is dismissed. If he fails, he places his clients at the mercy of the court and begs the judge for leniency.
I don’t think it is in order for the defense counsel to make private deals with the victim of his clients alleged crime. This exposes the defense to the suspicion that his clients were guilty as hell and had to resort to bribery and coercion to short circuit the case.
In other words, the course of justice has been perverted. I see X every day and he has not got any money yet. The last time we spoke about it over a week ago his uncle was to have taken him to the lawyer to collect it and had wanted to borrow half to do some business.
I doubt he will see a dime of this $6,000 as this will be evidence against the white-collar offender. Whatever is the outcome I appeal to the zealous police to pursue this matter to the end.
This would take a big bite out of crime!
