Barbadians are being urged not to continue coddling their relatives who are involved in serious criminal activities.
Member of Parliament for Christ Church West Central, Adrian Forde, and Minister of People Empowerment Kirk Humphrey made the plea recently following the shooting of a 12-year-old girl at Silver Hill, Christ Church, last Thursday.
“The last time I made a call to those who are involved in this wanton behaviour to put down those weapons of destruction, but now you have passed the threshold when it affects those on the dawn of our lives, our children.
“So the families of these perpetrators, the mothers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers . . . we have an understanding of what our family is involved in. Speak and call out your loved ones when you see them involved in criminal activities,” Forde said.
He said he believed interventions could help minimise the prevalence of violence impacting communities across the country.
“If you are a mother and you see your son with a gun, or an illegal weapon, it is your responsibility to say, ‘You are doing something wrong and to stop it’. That is a way we can help pull back our society,” Forde added.
Around 9 p.m. a group of pre-teens and teenagers were liming in their driveway when a vehicle appeared. Two masked gunmen with large guns exited the vehicle and started to shoot at the house, causing the group to flee. The 12-year-old was shot in her hand and foot.
On Friday, the mother of the girl and one of the other children impacted was traumatised she could have lost her daughter.
Forde, who also spoke to the family, said the incident should not become the norm.
“They are very distraught, they are living in fear and we must not have a society where the ordinary citizen lives in fear. This is not who we are,” he added.
The officials visited Silver Hill recently and assessed the damage to the apartments which were shot at. There were several holes in the wall of one unit, while next door, there were bullet holes in the windows.
Forde said the National Housing Corporation would be engaged to see how they could repair the damage while Humphrey said he asked the Child Care Board to intervene and offer all levels of psycho-social support to the girl and the family.
Similar to Forde, Humphrey urged parents to work with the Barbados Police Service.
While using child abuse as an example, he said to get justice, a collaborative effort would be needed.
“If your child has been abused and you determine you do not want to carry the case forward, then it is a waste of the police’s time but it also exposes the child to harm.
“It’s the same thing with this kind of violence. If you know your child has guns, or associates with people who have guns and you refuse to give the police information it makes the situation more complex unnecessarily,” Humphrey said.
While suggesting that programmes to assist the youth were critical, he also encouraged the wider public to give the police their support.
“I support community policing, strong community programmes and finding activities for young people, but I am at the point where I also support strong policing. I feel we have to give the police the authority and a greater level of flexibility and freedom to intervene when it comes to these acts. We have to determine the kind of society we want to live in. Either we want law and order, or we don’t want that. We have to give the support they need to be able to do this,” Humphrey said.
So far for the year, there have been 30 homicides, one of which occurred in this community.
In May, 37-year-old Omar Laron Haynes was fatally shot at Green Hill Drive, Silver Hill.
Resident and entrepreneur Raphael Barrow, who grew up and works in the community, acknowledged that the violence had taken a toll on the community. (TG)
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