Over the last few months, there has been a shocking rise in the number of reports of women being murdered in Jamaica. Is this a new disturbing phenomenon, or merely just a function of a more savage Jamaican society?

Dr Peter Garth, president of the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance, believes that “lovelessness” may be the reason why women and children are being gunned down with alarming regularity.

“It is more than just a two month trend, we have seen a trend where our women and children are being targeted, and beyond just domestic violence. I do believe that there is far too much lovelessness in our society,” Dr Garth told Observer Online.

Dr Elaine McCarthy, chairman of the Jamaica Umbrella Groups of Churches (JUGC), believes that the crux of the problem lies in the breakdown and ongoing instability of the family unit.

“I believe it goes back to the whole family issues where we no longer have a strong family tie within our society. The absence of the father-mother relationship, there is an imbalance,” Dr McCarthy said.

“Mainly, you have women rearing the children and they can do so much and no more, they have to go out and get money to feed the family, so they are too challenged to find the time to sit down and inculcate the values that these children need to be aware of.”

She said that a vicious cycle of parental absence has been created.

“The irony is that the mothers who are now mothering didn’t get that kind of upbringing, so they have nothing to pass on,” Dr McCarthy said.

“They are unable to pass on anything of value to the children.”

McCarthy created history by becoming the first woman to be appointed chairman of the JUGC. She believes that socialisation is the key to the disturbing behaviour and the rise of gang culture as a route of mentorship.

“The children are on the street very early, and they are looking towards something to model, so there is no one at home to model. They end up on the streets, gang leaders become the model for them and they think this is the way to go. They are caught up in a social web where the social fabric is just not there to give them guidance on how to co-exist with other persons, it is just not there,” she said.

During a particularly bloody start to October, four women were killed in the space of eight hours, including a mother and her daughter who were gunned down at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) on Spanish Town Road, St Andrew.

READ: Mother, daughter reported victims in NSWMA shooting

The bloodletting of females continued from the last week in September when at least four women were killed, including another mother and daughter pair who were among three females gunned down in a quadruple killing in in Crawle, Riversdale in St Catherine.

READ: Three women among four killed in St Catherine

Social commentator and author Milton Wray believes that today’s females are being seen through a new lens, and the murders of women are simply a function of a crasser, savage society.

“There was an unwritten rule that women and children should not be harmed, but women are now strong and equal, we don’t see her as being vulnerable and weak and to be protected. In fact, women have become so aggressive and even more aggressive than men. There is now a special breed of women who are so aggressive that they will physically attack men,” he said.

He pointed to a recent case where a woman reportedly attacked soldiers armed with M-16 guns.

“She physically attacked the soldier who was armed, that is the breed of women we are dealing with. We cannot see them in the traditional sense, I am not advocating for women to be harmed, but they cannot be singled out for special treatment, they are now equal to men. We should be focused on the killing of people in general – it is okay to kill men, but don’t kill women, that kind of thinking is atrocious!” Wray concluded.

Dr Garth, a decorated churchman with impressive academic and theological credentials, believes that the churches need to engage with the wider society and “take back communities”.

“We need to engage — not just inner city communities — but upscale communities too because the violence is coming from there too. We need to get back to family life, there needs to be an emphasis on family life, particularly from a parenting stand point. We need to help people to deal with their anger,” Dr Garth said.

Dr McCarthy believes that the solution to the rising savagery in society may lie in the spiritual realm.

“It’s a matter of the heart, we have to deal with that, the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. Once you can fix the heart, everything else will fall into place, and it’s God who is the one who can fix an individual’s heart,” she concluded.

WOMEN UNDER THE GUN

Here are some of the reported murders of women in the past three months.

-On June 4, 2023, Shadae Pink, a 28-year-old pregnant woman who was killed on Labour Day in a double murder on Campbell Avenue in Port Antonio, Portland. Police theorise that she may have been murdered over her affections for and connection to the boyfriend of a female bar operator who has been charged with her murder. Jody-Ann Jackson, the 28-year-old bar operator who is also a nail technician, of Anchovy Land Settlement in Portland, was charged with the double murder of Pink, a resident of Campbell Avenue, and 23-year-old Keino James King of John’s Town district, both in Portland.

-On July 27, 2023, the Barnett Street police discovered a woman with a stab wound along a section of Jimmy Cliff Boulevard. It was reported that shortly after midnight, passers-by stumbled upon the woman, who was discovered in a seated position beside a brick wall, in the vicinity of a Burger King outlet along the boulevard. She had what appeared to be a stab wound to her back.

-On August 13, a 46-year-old woman, Nadette Almarie Thomas, was shot dead in a brazen daylight attack on Norine Lane in Bodles, Old Harbour, St Catherine. It is reported that around 2:35 pm, residents heard loud explosions and summoned the authorities. Upon arriving, police saw Thomas’ body lying on its left side with gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. Old Harbour Police say they have not yet established a motive for the killing, nor have they identified any suspects.

-On August 13, 27-year-old businesswoman Shantal Codner-Whittingham, otherwise called ‘Pookie’, was shot dead while her husband and son narrowly escaped death when they were attacked by gunmen at Coolie Town district in Paradise, Westmoreland.

-On September 1, 38-year-old hairdresser Alecia Griffiths was found shot to death at her home on Gayle Town Road in Goshen district, St Elizabeth. She suffered what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the head and neck.

-On September 4, 39-year-old Lativa Helps, also known as “Latty”, was gunned down in Little London, Westmoreland. Reports indicate that Helps, who owned and operated Latty’s Sports Bar And Restaurant, arrived at her establishment shortly after 8 am when she was confronted by gunmen on a motorcycle. The men allegedly asked her to identify herself. She reportedly attempted to run off but was pursued by one of the men who shot her multiple times in the upper body. The gunmen reportedly ran into nearby bushes and were chased by scores of angry residents, who police say chopped one of them multiple times. He later succumbed to his injuries.

-On September 17, Tamara Harrison Ferron, self-employed, of Banbury district, Linstead, St Catherine, was gunned down by persons unknown.

-On September 23, a woman was shot and a man injured in St Catherine. Reports are that at about 2:30 pm, he woman was inside a motorcar travelling from a funeral at the Meadowrest Memorial Gardens in the parish when, upon reaching a section of a road in the Red Pond area, a man stepped into the road and fired upon the vehicle. Checks revealed that the woman suffered gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. She was pronounced dead at the hospital, while the man was treated for gunshot injuries and released.

-On September 27, a mother and daughter were among four people killed at a house in Crawle, Riversdale in St Catherine. Dorothy Higgins and her daughter, 45-year-old Kerrian Higgins McGrath, as well as their 38-year-old helper, Diane Nicola Johnson, and her husband, known as Kevin, were gunned down.

-On October 1, 31-year-old Anique Walters, the daughter of People’s National Party prospective councillor-candidate for the Admiral Town Division, Louise ‘Pumbles’ Newland, was murdered. Both Walters, a security supervisor of a Benbow Street, Kingston address, and a man she was with were shot at about 10:45 pm. The man was hospitalised.

-On October 2, a mother and her daughter were said to be the two women who were gunned down at the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) on Spanish Town Road, St Andrew. Police said one of the deceased women is believed to be Sophia Drummonds, a resident of Manley Meadows Close in Kingston, and her daughter, Dominic Duhaney.