KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness has described as “barbaric and merciless” the murder of two school boys on Monday evening, adding that “violence in all its form is abhorrent and must be strongly punished.
Police said Justin Perry and his schoolmate Nacholive Smith of the Chetwood Primary School, and an unidentified man, were shot and killed by gunmen while travelling in a taxi on Monday evening in the Flower Hill community of the volatile Salt Spring area, north west of here.
The Salt Spring area is the site of an ongoing gang feud. Last Friday, gunmen shot and killed six-year-old Arianna Salmon, a grade one student of St Jude’s Primary, along with her grandmother Marie Salmon, 42 and Michael Smith, 34.
Figures released by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) show that as of October 28, Jamaica has recorded 1, 159 murders as compared with 1301 for the same period last year.
Last year the island recorded 1,498, slightly up from 1,474 victims a year earlier.
In a statement, Holness said violence in all its forms is abhorrent and must be strongly condemned and punished.
Holness said that “this barbaric and merciless act of terror” demonstrates once again that gunmen and gangs are a clear and present threat to the foundations of Jamaica’s free and democratic society.
He said through the wanton use of violence, gangs and gunmen hold entire communities hostage, depriving citizens of their economic livelihood and their rights to move, speak, and associate freely in their communities.
He said his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration will continue to invest heavily in increasing the capacity and capabilities of the security forces to intercept and interdict criminal terrorists.
Prime Minister Holness said that Jamaicans must speak with one voice in condemning “this wanton and brutal murder of our children; likewise, we must also speak with one clear voice that we will apply the penalties with the greatest deterrent effect to the criminal terrorist to ensure that such senseless acts of terror never happen again. Enough is enough”.
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