MURDER

 With the murder rate climbing to almost two a day most people simply shake their heads in disgust and get on with their lives. But the bare statistic of two murders a day in a country of about 1.5 million people  doesn't portray the true horror and heartbreak  of the families and loved ones of the victims. The statistic doesn't show the gruesome details - the bloody clothes, the shattered brain half out of the head, the battered body, the broken limbs, the lifeless eyes oozing blood, the ripped and bloodied clothing, the sheer panic of the victim moments before she\he was killed knowing that she\he was about to die. It doesn't tell the story except in cold, clinical terms: 'A man/woman was killed today by a gunshot wound to the head ...'. We shrug our shoulders and move on to other stories.

In the meantime are we supposed to take comfort from the erstwhile Minister of National Security who says that the safety and security of the citizenry is not his responsibility? So whose responsibility is it? Where does the buck stop? According to him his responsibility is merely to ensure that the necessary systems are in place. So? Are the necessary systems in place? If they are, why is the murder rate rising seemingly out of control? Who do we, the citizenry, have to turn to? Whose ultimate responsibility is it?

Thinking about this, I wondered whether perhaps more pictures and more detailed stories in the press are necessary to bring home to the society as a whole how simply awful murder is.

I speak from personal experience. On Monday 17th February, 1997 (25 years ago tomorrow) my first cousin was kidnapped and murdered by a police sergeant paid to kill him by a man that my cousin thought was his friend. The murder is still "unsolved" and the police have shown absolutely no interest in investigating it. But that's another story. What I'm on about is the absolute despair, worry and heartbreak that the family went through. I still think of how my cousin must have felt when the gunman put the gun to his left temple and pulled the trigger. He would have known that he was about to be killed in a most gruesome manner. He must have been absolutely terrified. But nobody cares. Can you imagine the absolute horror of having someone put a gun to your head and knowing that he will pull the trigger?

Are there more gruesome murders? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Is anything being done about it and to prevent it from happening? Sadly, the answer is no

Do our leaders care? It certainly seems that they don't for they fill us with stupid platitudes, and poor fools that we are, we just take it. Nobody  is responsible for doing anything and nobody pays the price. In the meantime those left behind will have to deal with finding closure any way that they can. Perhaps I should change my name to 'nobody'. That way I'd be able literally to get away with murder.