103 murders for the year so far – police

As of the end of last month, the police recorded 103 murders for the year marginally up from the 102 murders recorded at the end of the same period last year.

According to police statistics released yesterday, 39 of these murders have been classified as “disorderly”; 19 “domestic related; 18 occurred during armed robberies and 5 were “execution type”. There has been an increase of 12 per cent in domestic related murders and 11 per cent in disorderly murders. There has been a decrease of 44 per cent in execution type murders and 14 per cent in murders during armed robberies.

Meanwhile, according to the police, robbery under arms increased by 10 per cent. There were 618 cases at the end of last month compared to 564 recorded last year. According to the police, while there has been significant change in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms, there has been a 30 per cent increase in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators.

The police also indicated that at the end of September, there were 88 road fatalities compared to 81 for the corresponding period last year. Of the 88 persons to have died as a result of road accidents, 9 were children the police have indicated. Thirty-three pedestrians and 17 cyclists have been among the fatalities. “Speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol are the major causes of the fatal accidents,” the police said. There are also 251 serious accidents; 401 minor accidents and 581 accidents which resulted in damage to property.

According to the police, so far for the year some 47,243 cases have been made out against errant motorists. “Of this total 9,560 were for speeding and 857 for driving under the influence of alcohol.”