Friday, October 30 2009

The shooting deaths on Wednesday by police officers of three young men, who had kidnapped a jeweller and fired on officers who sought to rescue him, should be a lesson to youngsters about to embark on careers in crime and to those already criminally involved.

Too many persons believe that they reserve the “right” to rob, maim, kidnap and kill others and not be arrested, charged, brought to court to stand trial and punished in accordance with the country’s laws. Some have gone to the extreme of ordering the murder of witnesses to killings, for which they have been charged, in order to frustrate the justice system and escape punishment. They kill and are prepared to order that others be killed so they can walk free. As a result, not only are a not inconsiderable number of murder witnesses afraid to come forward to testify, but several others have changed their testimonies for fear that they or close relatives would be murdered.

Having kidnapped individuals and received ransom payments for their release, they sometimes proceed to kill their victims to prevent their being identified to the police. On Wednesday, police officers responded to a call by relatives of Mt Lambert jeweller, Imran Khan, that he had been dragged into a vehicle which then sped off shortly after pulling up in front Khan’s home as he was about to go through the front gate. Police officers, acting on a description of the vehicle pursued it and at Carlsen Field, site of an old United States World War II military base, the kidnappers stopped their car, jumped out with Khan and ran to a forested area.

Realising the police officers, bent on rescuing Khan, were close up on them, the kidnappers are reported to have shot at the police, who fired back in self-defence. What should be clearly understood is that the police in reacting to the urgent call by Khan’s relatives that he had been kidnapped, were simply doing their duty in seeking to rescue him and apprehend his kidnappers. One or more of the officers could easily have been killed or seriously wounded in the process, merely because they were attempting to do their duty, which is, as the motto of the Police Service says: To Protect and Serve.

What is particularly disturbing is the three kidnappers are said to be in their late teens or early twenties, an age when many others around this age, are either in secondary school, in university, fine tuning skills or recently entered the job market. Instead, the three sought highly questionable and outright criminal means of “earning” money. What is equally disturbing is that in all too many instances when bandits are held or killed in shootouts with the police, there are persons willing to say the criminals were good persons who gave money to their relatives and communities.

The “beneficiaries” conveniently forget that the money is blood money gained, often, at the expense of persons being kidnapped, murdered for their money or mindless victims of the illegal drug trade. In addition, the money is given as a bribe to ensure the silence of those receiving it. No thought is given to the victims and their families.

This is the second time in two years that the Khan family had to undergo the ordeal of a member being kidnapped. The victim was later released. On Wednesday, the kidnappers had a needlessly deadly lesson. It was a lesson which could have been averted had persons close to them, even friends, been able to impress upon them the need to stay in school and/or to register in adult education classes and acquire worthwhile skills. Hopefully, others, however, would have learnt a positive lesson from all of this.