Hartley Neita, Contributor
THE FIRST murder in recorded history was that of Abel killing Cain. There was no TVJ, CVM or CCN to show poor Cain's blood smearing the earth. And, of course, Eve was not caught on camera bawling her heart out proclaiming that her sons were loving towards each other and that the death must have been an accident.
Adam, on the other hand, was quietly arranging for Abel to ride on a camel to a nearby country, becoming the world's first deportee. Some believe he was the Prodigal Son whose return was told a thousand years later in a New Testament proverb.
Some years later after Cain's death, old man Abraham took his son for a hike into the hill behind his village, had the young man help him build an altar of stones, then laid him stretched out on it with his hands and feet tied.
Luckily for the young man, Abraham looked up into the sky and was blinded by the sun. Dazzled, he did not see very well and instead of stabbing the boy in his heart the knife cut the rope binding his feet.
The boy ran down the hill to the village and told everybody what the old man had tried to do. A posse searched the hills and when they caught him they decided to forgive and not lynch him or try him for attempted murder.
A third murder was that of Goliath by the young Shepherd boy, David. But as Goliath was a member of an enemy force and it was war, David was hailed and celebrated and crowned King.
LICENSED TO KILL
David felt he was now licensed to kill and that being His Majesty he had, like many leaders of today, the droit de seigneur and could commandeer to his bed any woman, virgin or wedded, in his kingdom. So when he ached for Bathsheba he arranged for her husband to be sent into the thick of battle where he was inevitably killed. That was, of course, murder by proxy, but being King he continued impeaching Baths-heba, without fear of being himself impeached.
Then there was Salome and Herod. She excited the old King with a dance of the seven veils and then promised him a private performance if he would lop off the head of John the Baptist. Like the promise of so many wanton women, the private dance was never performed. She flirted and gave him numerous excuses until the poor man was transferred back to Rome by Caesar.
So, those early murders were never punished. None of the perpetrators were tried and sentenced to be hanged. Other lesser crimes, however, were punished more severely.
Women, who were caught in adulterous acts, for example, were stoned to death. In some parts of the world, thieves had their hands cut off at the wrist. Here in Jamaica, slaves who took part in rebellions had their heads cut off and mounted on poles in the public squares.
Pirates were welded in iron cages, hoisted in the air and left to die from hunger and thirst. More recently, a former Councillor called on central Government to castrate rapists; while 40 years ago, there were advocates calling for murderers to be hanged in public.
Murderers are no longer hanged by the State. Murderers are deported for life, less old age, to the General Penitentiary and the St. Catherine District Prison. Or they are forgiven like Abraham, or crowned as dons like David.
The punishment of death, for murders, has been divested to the private sector.
