THE GOVERNMENT has proposed additional measures to reduce the country's high incidence of domestic murders.
According to K.D. Knight, Minister of National Security and Justice, the Dispute Resolution Foundation (DRF) will be intensifying its programme by training more Justices of the Peace, Community Consultative Committee leaders and Neighbourhood Watch groups to deal with conflict resolution.
According to police records, of the 887 murders reported last year, 294 of the victims were killed in domestic disputes -- the worst record since 1993.
Last Wednesday Martin Hall, 14, student of Jonathan Grant High School, St. Catherine, was killed by gunmen. It's reported that two groups of people had a row during which acid was thrown. Knives and cutlasses were also brandished.
Several shots
One group left the scene and returned asking for a man. They were told the man was in a bathroom. It is alleged that the men, without hesitation, fired several shots which hit the young Hall who was in the bathroom. He was later found with bullet wounds to the neck and right side.
Last Saturday night Ainsworth Lindo, 50, a St. Ann businessman, shot dead his 38-year-old wife, Sandra, and then killed himself with the same gun. The couple reportedly had been quarrelling over the last 14 months amid accusations of an extra-marital affair by the wife.
Woman Constable Dahlia Garrick of the Constabulary Communication Network said there were 226 domestic murders in 1999, 34 fewer than the number of cases reported in 1998. In the previous year it was 214.
New unit
In November 1994, Col. Trevor MacMillan, then Commissioner of Police, set up a Police Mediation Unit to address the problem of domestic violence.
The unit started with 15 policemen, who were trained in conflict resolution, and these officers in turn trained colleagues. The Mediation Unit has since been de-centralised. Four months after it began, the unit had dealt with 300 cases and of that number 171 cases were resolved.
Cons. Garrick said last year that the unit held 21 mediation sessions from which 20 cases were resolved. She said it had 74 counselling sessions and lectured to 8,869 people, including school children, social club, church and community group members.
"They also received 111 pieces of mail from persons seeking counselling," Miss Garrick said.
She said that if there were cases that the Mediation Unit could not deal with, the persons are referred to an agency that could better handle the matter.
