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Dear Sir:

Violence in Grenada against women and children is corroding the central political processes of Grenada’s society. The newly elected government of Prime Minister Dr Keith C. Mitchell needs to wage a vigorous campaign against crime in Grenada.

Grenada long viewed as a country with a remarkably low crime rate shows some evidence of change. There is a small breakdown in law and order including the brutal rape of a four year old girl child, robberies and murders.

The disproportionate involvement of Grenadian men in crime against women should give the government of Prime Minister Mitchell cause for concern. The new attorney general knows that murder problem in Grenada is a threat to our national well being and the people of Grenada, Carriacou, Petit Martinique, and Grenadians abroad, including those residing in New York, and Canada are stressing the need for more positive preventive measures.

Alarmed citizens throughout Grenada overwhelmed police in virtually all constituencies with complaints of school girls as young as twelve years old having sexual relations with older men, mostly bus drivers is another contentious topic, a new and disturbing trend, which is a major topic of concern in Grenada’s community.

Law and order seems to be on the downside under parliamentary democracy. This should have been a campaign issue, but it was not, so it’s time to address it.

We are calling on the prime minister, the governor general and the attorney general to address this delicate issue that’s been long overdue, The Grenada government must work to reduce crimes, murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery and burglary.

These developments are unsettling, particularly since they contribute to public uneasiness in Grenada. A nation’s crime policies are governed by general attitudes towards crime, the functioning of the penal system, the financial resources available, political considerations and scientific and criminological process.

Their respective roles depend upon a series of circumstances. Although the moral, religious, and ethical considerations determine prevailing attitudes towards crime, today in some countries including Grenada, their influence has decreased under the impact of the disappearance of rigid class systems, technical progress, criminological theories, and the awareness that contemporary criminal law is in need of extensive change.

Crimes in Grenada are becoming more violent and increasingly serious problem. The impact of crime policies may be dictated by difference elements as, tradition, professional information, respect for human rights and progressive attitudes. Political considerations are always obvious in the discussions of crime policies regarding such matters as police reform, punishment.

Grenada’s policies have largely failed partly because of the artificial inflation of the meaning of crimes. The present policy has been very much criticized. Rapid social change, a delinquent generation, the weakening rapid social change, the weakening of family ties have been offered as explanations of the increase of crimes in Grenada, but as casual explanations none of them is satisfactory, since experience shows that these and similar factors cannot explain all the cases. Furthermore, these explanations ignore the facts that Grenada’s society needs a certain amount of protection from our prime minister, our governor general and our attorney general, which this present system does not offer.

The people of Grenada, our women and children need a certain amount of protection. There are clear signs that both the Grenada’s philosophy and policies have to be revised, based on the recognition that the court of law and its guiding consideration is the protection of the Grenadian community.

Special programs to deal with the victims of rape should be established and police agencies should step up the use of women, rather than men to interview rape victims. The attorney general should emphasize the need for uniform sentencing practices and mandatory prison sentences for serious crimes. The soulless savage who raped the four-year-old child in Grenville, only served three months in prison, and he is now roaming the streets free to repeat his crime. The punishment definitely did not fit the crime.

It was announced in January 1969 that forty prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs, most of whom were convicted of sex offenses against children, underwent a painless ten-minute operation in which a small pill of synthetic female hormone was inserted under the skin. Prison physicians asserted that this is no longer an experimental approach to sex offenders but could be considered positive treatment.

Even when successfully prosecuted and convicted, murderous criminals frequently receive lenient sentences from the courts. The system needs to change that situation. The attorney general and the government need to establish a special economic crime prosecution unit or units to achieve striking success in the prosecution of numerous crimes against our society and people.

Not all crimes come readily to the attention of the Grenada police. Some are swept under the rug, but all crimes should be sufficient importance to be significant. Crimes occurring in Grenada occur with enough regularity and that’s creating a problem. Grenada must never continue along this path. We must take up the topic of how to analyze the cost of crime and encourage our government to begin research projects concerning investment in crime prevention, and to combat crime by drafting legislation which would protect women and children from physical abuse.

Here is a list of names of women who were brutally murdered in the last two years or so in Grenada.

Marsha Jones was chopped to death by her boyfriend, who then drank poison killing himself.

Andrea Williams lost one of her wrists, after she was severely and savagely chopped by Godfrey Simeon, a labourer, after she attempted to break off a relationship.

Marsha Cherman was chopped to death by Issac Gilbert who turned himself into police.

Akera Laigi, whose dismembered body was discovered in a trash bin by garbage collectors, was murdered by an ex-boyfriend.

For more information on crime against women, go to Grenadian Women Inc. on Facebook.

Helen Grenada

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