Latest update March 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 05, 2016 Letters
Dear Editor,
Crime! Crime! Increase! Rising! Why? Where? When? And the only response in unison is Guyana. To say the crime rate is out of proportion is being jolly frugal word wise as the true severity beggar description. You cannot stop Guyanese for notoriety irregardle3ss of what form it takes. Last year the country was among the 20 countries with the highest murder rate last year. In addition the Canadian Government in its travel advisory of May 2, 2016 cautioned its citizens that while there is no nationwide advisory in effect, extreme caution should be exercised in view of the high crime rate. And this is a country that is preparing like an expectant mother to celebrate a new birth—50 years of Independence.
Well back to the scene of the crime, which continues to spiral out of control while we wear our hearts on our sleeves, drag our feet, raise our chests while the milk of human kindness drips effortlessly from our mammary glands as we debate cruel and unjust punishment in the form of hanging. Smarten up nothing seems to be working, and while we ponder folks are going yonder.
Tough times have given way to tough crimes; hence the antidote for it all is let’s invoke harsh measures for all transgressors. Plainly put, I am calling for a swift and long-overdue return of the Cat-o-Nine Tails. In discussion with older heads who formerly inhabited Eldorado during the colonial era, and now call foreign lands their home, once again the spiraling crime rate in Guyana took center stage. The futility of present day treatment raised strong concerns, and suddenly in a seeming divinely inspired spurt of wisdom, in unison they shouted- Bring Back the Cat. Yes, the cat should make an appearance if even for a trial period; for it had worked way back then and it would work even better now. It would be plain to see that in no time the country would be almost crime free. One septuagenarian animatedly recalled that, during her youth there was a man who had run afoul of the law; seemingly hell bent on making crime a career, until his encounter with the cat-o-nine tails. He received a whipping that left him physically reduced to a mere weakling, even earning him the appellation” Bruk Up”, a name that he bore until he made his earthly transition. I am sanguine that this mode of punishment would act as a deterrent
The book, The Colony of British Guiana and its Labouring Population, written by Rev. H Bronkhurst, a Wesleyan missionary, details how even hanging did not deter the Coolies from carrying out cold blooded and brutal atrocities against their fellow creatures. In similar vein, the author poignantly contends that above any other kind of punishment inflicted on the body, the Indian coolie detests with perfect hatred and indescribable horror, the public catting in front of all his countrymen. He would prefer death by strangulation, decapitation or hanging to his bare back being ripped apart by the Cat-o-Nine tails.
The reemergence of the cat-o-nine tails does not come as a single package, but concomitantly with a call also for a change in the way prosecution is delivered. Sad to say but even from my non- legal background and standpoint, far too many criminals go free. The Magistrate and Judges may have read from the same book, even learnt in the same school, but that pages have turned seemingly unbeknown to them all. The sentences given by some magistrates besides the obvious sociological implications do force the public question the integrity of the sentence dispensing agent. Some judges have earned a name for them as being fair but feared, among them being Justice Navindra Singh, who takes pride of place among legal exemplars such as Magistrate Akhbar Khan.
I have made my call which I know for sure will not find favour with all. However, thus far the detractors of the death penalty have not come up with any suitable plan, suggestion or idea to combat the runaway train called crime. So here am I making an impassioned plea for the return of the Cat, so that my native land would return to its former state where each and every citizen’s life was valued, one could walk the streets, avenues, dams and paths freely regardless of time, people worked for whatever they wanted and we had each other’s back. So no more patting on the wrists. We’ve listened to your song that hanging is wrong. So bring the Cat-o-nine tail back into play, and let’s see how many criminals will want to play.
Yvonne Sam
Listen to the man that is throwing Guyanese bright future away
Mar 19, 2024
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