Two days after Rushane Barnett pleaded guilty in the Home Circuit Court to the murders of his cousin, 31-year-old Kemesha Wright and her four children in Cocoa Piece Clarendon, hundreds of people — relatives, friends, and well-wishers from near and far — crowded their funeral at Stuart Hall Auditorium, Clarendon College, on Sunday to bid them farewell.

With emotions high, many who were eager to get a glimpse at the mom and her children inside the four caskets at Suttons Cemetery, where they were interred, had bust-ups with members of the security forces who struggled to keep them orderly at the graveside.

Shock and disbelief gripped the nation on June 21 upon news spreading of the grizzly murders of Wright, her daughters Kimanda Smith, 15; Sharalee Smith, 12; Rafaella Smith, five; and Wright’s only son, 23-month-old Kishawn Henry Jr, whose bodies were found inside their house by a relative who had gone looking for them.

Barnett had fled the central Jamaica parish and sought refuge in Trelawny, where he was eventually apprehended by the police.

On Sunday, from very early in the roughly six-hour thanksgiving service, which was well attended by politicians on both sides of the political divide, Gwendolyn Wright McKnight, the mother and grandmother of the victims became overwhelmed with grief, frequently wailing and moaning.

Mourners learnt that Wright never hesitated to go the extra mile to provide for her children. According to Robert Nesta Morgan, Member of Parliament for Clarendon North Central, Wright was seriously enquiring about how to get to Canada so she could accumulate money to further support her children. He lamented how she was robbed of that dream.

“I remember she sent me something before she died. She said, ‘Mr Morgan, pleasant morning to you, Sir. My name is Kemesha Wright from Cocoa Piece. I am a mother of four and I am seeking your help, Sir. I am a student at Distinction College doing practical nursing and only have a few months left and I am wondering if you can help me with a farm work card?’ I said, ‘You can go to the office and sign up and I will talk to you about it,’ ” Morgan shared.

He also spoke of other interactions with her and that she had told him to “take as much time as you need as long as you keep me in mind”.

“I don’t have any more time with Kemesha. You think you have another minute, hour, or day with somebody who you know has potential. I am here to let you know that we don’t know how much time we have,” Morgan said, while imploring the nation to begin learning how to solve differences without conflict or violence.

To address some of the root causes of violent behaviour from a youth stage, Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams said that in the upcoming school year children will be exposed to emotional and character education in order to transform Jamaica into a developed society with citizens who have stable personality traits.

“…We will be rolling out civics as a discrete subject. The final curriculum is ready. We need more than competence in maths and reading and writing. We need to teach our children the values and virtues that will enable them to navigate their way in any circumstance they find themselves without resorting to violence. Nothing I say today will bring back Kemesha and her four children, but my hope is that this emphasis on character education and civics in our schools will help to turn a new leaf in the minds and hearts of those who believe violence is the only way to solve problems,” Williams said.

At the same time, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said many expected changes in legislation that will tackle and deter the perpetrators of violence.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I love you, care for you, and want to see the best for you. Let us do what we can to end violence,” Holness said.

Pointing out that Wright and her children were viciously killed by a relative who had the inability to resolve conflict peacefully, Holness took aim at corporal punishment for helping to perpetuate the cycle of violence.

“What we are doing is saying to the children that if we do something wrong, the only way to correct it is through violence,” Holness said, stressing that there are other ways to punish children who have done wrong.

“Other countries have used them for decades and they don’t have this level of violence. I don’t know what could have possessed that young man that day, but the society that we live in needs serious attention. I come to you as your policymaker. You elected me to address the issues,” he said.

As part of plans to address violence in Jamaica, Holness said the Government was making adjustments to the Firearms Act that speak to the use and distribution of firearms, among other related changes. He said that important changes are being made to the Bail Act to prevent offenders from reoffending while on bail.

“Many perpetrators of violence come back out and in no time they commit crimes. Many of them end up murdering again. We have to treat with that. We are reviewing the Offences Against the Person Act,” the prime minister said, indicating that new offences and penalties have to be created.

“We are very advanced in reviewing the Domestic Violence Act. We are reviewing the Child Care and Family Protection Act to ban corporal punishment,” said Holness.

He expressed support for a system of early detection, intervention, and warning against people who have been on the police’s radar in the past. He pointed out that Barnett had come to the attention of law enforcement in the past and, if due attention was given, the murders of Wright and her children could have been prevented.

“We need to identify perpetrators of violence and get them into programmes, even if a case was not brought before the court,” Holness said, adding that some people harbour evil intentions and don’t know how to treat with violence.

“We are devising a new programme and system of intervention to ensure people are not bottling up the violence to return later down the road [with more violence]. Government is going to act, but are we willing to forgive and not escalate conflicts?” Holness asked the mourners.

The nation learnt last week that Barnett inflicted approximately 100 stab wounds to Wright and her children, collectively. He had said that he was motivated to carry out the gruesome act because Wright disrespected him in front of people. The children, he said, were killed because they attacked him after he stabbed their mother close to 50 times before she died.