R.I.P.

Yesterday's Sunday Guardian had a most interesting editorial on crime. In it the editorial writer pointed out that some 4,525 people had been murdered since 2010. The statistic was not quoted as to how many of those murders have been solved with the perpetrators being brought to justice, but I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the percentage is very small.

What a lot of people who have not suffered the misfortune of losing a loved one in this dastardly way (i.e., murder) is how badly a murder affects those left behind. First of all, when you get the news you feel absolutely numb. It's almost too much to digest and you don't know what to do. You feel lost and filled with a feeling that 'this can't be happening'.  Then, when the news eventually sinks in and you cry, the crying does not relieve that dreadful sense of loss that you feel.

A little later, you begin to make enquiries as to exactly how it happened. Did my loved one suffer? You will want to know. In this regard, it is probably a little easier (maybe about one percent) if your loved one was murdered accidentally, for example, if he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, than if, for example, she was kidnapped, raped and strangled. But quite honestly, whether it was an "accidental" murder or a deliberate one, death is still death and murder is so sudden and unexpected that it is still a serious shock to one's system.

Then you will begin to pester the police. What are they doing? Unfortunately, nine times out of ten the answer to that question will be sweet nothing ... either through sheer incompetence or corruption or a combination of both! This will infuriate you, especially when you have delved deep into the murder and you will have discovered exactly who the murderer is and why he committed the crime. But then you will have a problem: the first one will be that while you know exactly who did it and why, you can't prove it, i.e., you will not have any evidence that can stand up in a court. Let me put it to you like this: I was at your house at midnight last night. You know I was there. But I am going to lie and say that I wasn't. Now, you prove that I was there! Difficult, eh? It will be your word against mine!

In addition you might be scared out of your wits because you know that the police will not protect you if you 'rat' on the murderer.

So, he walks scot free! And you are left with nothing but the pain!

Everybody has a loved one ... even if it's 'only' a mother. Usually there will be at least two (if not more) persons who are adversly affected by the violent death. And, you know what? You never get over it! Twenty-three years ago today my cousin, whom I loved like a brother was brutally murdered by a drug lord. Everybody knows who did it, but the police covered it up and it has been lost and forgotten ... except by his family! And that is so sad!