(Jamaica Gleaner) Lawmakers expressed outrage in Parliament on Tuesday over a deadly attack on a taxicab in Salt Spring, St James, which left a man and two young boys dead on Monday evening.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness called on the security forces to pursue swift justice against the perpetrator.
“I urge the police to ensure that the entire area is brought under control and we will give them the necessary powers and authority to carry out their duties, within, of course, Madam Speaker, our Constitution, respect for human rights and the dignity of the people of the area,” he said.
Salt Spring has been seeing a resurgence in deadly gang violence in recent weeks.
Police reports are that about 5:20 p.m., the students – seven-year-old Justin Perry and nine-year-old Nahcoliva Smith, both of the Chetwood Memorial Primary – were among four children and two adults in the taxicab when it came under attack along the Flower Hill main road.
The attack reportedly occurred after 26-year-old Tevin Hayle , who seemed to have been the target, boarded the vehicle.
Upon entering the car, an armed man allegedly alighted from nearby bushes and fired several shots into the car. Hayle and the two boys were struck. They were pronounced dead at hospital.
“In my opinion, Madam Speaker, it is the equivalent of a terrorist act and these criminals ought to be described and treated in that form,” Holness said in Parliament, noting that gangsters were aiming to create “a national fear” by their use of high-powered weapons in public places indiscriminately.
Adamant that the Government cannot be indecisive on crime, he urged the Parliament to pass the amendments to the various pieces of legislation that will increase penalties for such crimes before the end of the year.
The Criminal Justice Administration (Amendment) Act, the Child Care Protection (Amendment) Act and Offences Against the Person (Amendment) Act are currently being debated by the Parliament to impose stiffer penalties for capital and non-capital murder and to impose mandatory minimum time before parole can be granted.
The Bail Act, which allow for the grant of bail at the pre-charge, post-charge and post-conviction stages in defined cases, and the Firearms Act, which imposes a mandatory 15-year sentence for possession of illegal weapons, were recently passed.
Opposition Leader Mark Golding expressed alarm at the increasing instances of multiple murders, proclaiming that “we are living in a terrible crisis of violent crime”.
He called for the reactivation of the Crime Monitoring and Oversight Committee, a bipartisan approach to tackling crime which was established in 2019. It was under this committee that the Enhanced Security Measures Act, which was touted as a major tool to empower the security forces to disrupt criminal networks, reduce violence, and increase public order, was drafted.
But Golding said the undertaking “more or less came to an end a year ago, when the Government withdrew from the process”.
He also expressed concerns at the inconsistencies in the Firearms Act, and at the risk of further backlog in the criminal justice system that mandatory sentences could cause.
“We have to be careful that sometimes our good intentions don’t have consequences which work against what we are trying to achieve,” said Golding.
Holness conceded that additional assessment of the Firearms Act will be needed.
