Non-gun slayings rise, exposing deeper social wounds

A slaying a week.

A wave of homicides has sent the island’s homicide rate soaring, with authorities expressing deep concern at the rising tide of bloodshed as some use whatever they can get their hands on to commit crimes against fellow citizens.

Attorney General Dale Marshall highlighted the trend, noting that the latest victim, who was chopped to death in his constituency of St Joseph on Wednesday, represents the 27th homicide this year – roughly one per week.

“This is the bloodiest two months we have seen in Barbados in a very long time,” said a criminologist who suggested the violence has exposed deeper wounds in Barbadian society. “In the space of two months, we have had more than 10 murders. There was a point when we were having almost a murder a day.”

“While firearm-enabled homicides throw our whole society into a state of fear, homicides by other means are no less devastating,” Marshall told Barbados TODAY. “We have now had several stabbing deaths, another with a piece of wood, yet another with a hammer and now a chopping death.”

The Barbados Police Service confirmed it is investigating the unnatural death of a man found at a home in Little Diamond, St Elizabeth. Inspector Rodney Inniss, the police spokesman, said the incident was reported as “a chopping up by use of a cutlass”.

Marshall lamented that while the police service has strategies to address gun crime, they lack specific measures for stabbings and similar weapons. He called for a societal approach to tackle these offences, which he believes are unrelated to gang activity.

“Generally speaking, the deaths by stabbing and bludgeoning are beginning to tell a tale about our society and a general descent into violence that has nothing to do with gangs and recriminations associated with the gang culture,” the attorney general suggested.

University criminologist Vernee Sobers recommended that policymakers shift their anti-crime focus from conventional measures to a deep dive into street culture. Sobers, also a forensic psychologist and sociologist, argued that stiffer penalties, increased police presence, and church interventions would be ineffective.

“Now, everybody wants to be a bad boy, everybody wants to have a gun,” Sobers explained. “The ones that were done by stabbings… when you are a 19-year-old assassin, the energy that you have to exert to kill somebody in that fashion is an exorbitant amount of energy.”

Sobers emphasised the need to understand the evolving street culture, citing examples of young men brandishing guns on social media and making threats. She contended that traditional deterrents are losing effectiveness, as incarcerated individuals still receive basic necessities and maintain contact with family and friends.

“The streets are going to reward them for being bad boys,” Sobers added. “We have to look at street culture now. That is what it is. It is the culture, street culture, gun culture. So, how are we going to tackle street culture? The most you could do is educate, because there isn’t much more you can do.”

The criminologist noted that despite the Queen Elizabeth Hospital being overwhelmed by the influx of victims, “the young boys don’t care because they still killing one another”.

Sobers questioned the effectiveness of a truce implemented about a year ago to foster peace among warring gangs. She concluded that while the killings are not random attacks on innocent people, they represent well-planned revenge slayings.

As Barbados faces its “bloodiest two months in a very long time”, with more than 10 murders in the space of two months, authorities and experts grapple with finding effective solutions to stem a rising tide of violence.

The murder toll is a dramatic reversal of the declining murder rates observed in previous years and poses a significant security challenge for law enforcement officials and the Mottley administration. The 27 slayings so far this year represent a significant increase compared to the total of 19 murders reported for all of 2023 – a 42 per cent rise with half the year still remaining.

(emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb)