I FEEL confident that you share our grief in this parish St. Mary. Apart from figures coming out of STATIN (2001) that says St. Mary is the poorest parish in Jamaica. We are increasingly becoming the murder capital of Jamaica. Over the last two months, there has been a raft of robberies, murders and kidnappings. This has left people in this poverty-stricken parish asking aloud "Who will be next?"
In my 19 years as a Lay Magistrate in this parish, I have never witnessed such a deterioration. St. Mary is crying out for help now. This once great parish is bordered by St. Ann, Portland, St. Catherine, St. Andrew and the beautiful long coastline of the Caribbean Sea. I make the point to show that there are so many exits from this parish, and an ever increasing number of home-grown criminals, with nothing to do. Inevitably, the devil will find work for idle hands! We in St. Mary are on the horns of a dilemma. We need help from the public, the police, the politicians, we must become our brothers and sisters keepers.
