Heather Robinson

Have you contemplated your own death since this week? Do you wonder about how you will die? Do you believe that if you are murdered that there will be even one witness to tell the police who did it? Do you believe that if you are murdered within 50 yards of your home, that there will be even one of your parents' neighbours who will be brave enough to tell the truth about your death?

These are questions that we do not really want to contemplate, and we certainly do not want to be in the real position of having to answer these questions after the brutal murder of a son.

In the hours before dawn on Sunday, June 4, 2006, Corporal Lincoln Parker was murdered inside De La Vega City, Spanish Town. Lincoln received multiple gunshot wounds about 40 yards from his parents' home, where he had spent his childhood and early adulthood. Corporal Parker's body lay on the ground at the foot of a JPS pole which was equipped with a working street light. Corporal Lincoln Parker was murdered in the presence and full view of several patrons who were attending a dance.

In July 1993, as the Member of Parliament for St. Catherine South Central, I experienced with the residents of DeLa Vega City, a murder that took place in the early hours of the morning. I will never forget that telephone call that told me about the murder of a resident of that community. This community has buried many of its own. I wouldn't want to guess how many since 1993, but what I am sure about is that every resident there can tell you about a relative or friend who has been murdered there, or near there. What is it that has allowed this community to become so cold, insensitive or frightened that it cannot speak about those who murder their own?

Not willing to help

The findings of The Gleaner-Bill Johnson poll published in Wednesday's Gleaner might provide an insight. 32% of the persons polled said that they would not help the police (give information) if they witnessed a crime. 42% do not trust the police and felt that the police would reveal their names, while 29% did not want to lose their lives. Some murders are committed in the absence of eyewitnesses, while others like that of Lincoln Parker are done in full and clear view of persons present. What is it that provides young men with the courage to walk up to a police officer and shoot him several times at a dance on a public roadway? Are these murderers relying on the belief that witnesses are afraid; see it not as their business or believe that the police are corrupt?

I do not have the answers to these questions but what I can promise is this. Whenever I have any information that can assist the police, I am the best police informer.

We have to trust

If only the neighbours and friends of Corporal Lincoln Parker could get a small dose of courage and tell the Commissioner of Police, Lucius Thomas what they know. We have to trust him. It is my hope that there are a few honourable residents in De La. who will provide the information to assist Mr. Thomas in allowing Lincoln Parker to rest in peace.

Listen to the deafening silence in De La Vega City, punctuated only by the sound of sporadic gunfire.

Heather Robinson is a life underwriter and former Member of Parliament.