Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

An eight-year-old St James girl is the latest victim to suffer at the hands of rapists who went on a rampage last weekend in the parish, assaulting five women in the process.

The youngster from an inner-city community was gang-raped by five men at the Charles Gordon Market, Fustic Road, in the second city, while the other women were abducted and taken to various sections of downtown Montego Bay where the acts were carried out between Friday and Saturday night.

St James is the second parish in the western side of the island rocked by rapists. Over in Bounty Hall, in neighbouring Trelawny, a 19-year-old was hospitalised after being raped last weekend.

Her attack came days after a 13-year-old, who was here on vacation, was carnally abused in the presence of her father, who was tied up and robbed.

Those victims bring to four such cases in Trelawny over the last two weeks. On Emancipation Day, the body of a 15-year-old girl was found in bushes, while items of clothing believed to belong to her attacker, were found at the scene. She was raped and stabbed several times.

Ultimate violation

"Rape, the ultimate violation of self, has reached alarming proportions," a concerned Superintendent Steve McGregor, officer in charge of Area One, told The Gleaner.

Careful not to reveal any strategies to be implemented by his team, McGregor said measures were now in place to curtail the escalation. He however did not spare parents, who he labelled as "careless".

"During the summer there is an increase and the behavioural pattern of our young people is not making it better," McGregor said. "Parents are not to continue to allow their young daughters to leave home scantily dressed."

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com