It is hard to fathom, Jamaica, the level to which our country has devolved.

We are afraid. The greatest country in the world which has produced so many trailblazers, is now filled with cowards. The old people used to say we ‘fraidy fraidy’. We are wimps. We have become a country of cowards.

It is most disheartening to be greeted with reports that a 12-year-old girl and her 15-year-old sister are now in hospital after being stabbed and chopped by a man who invaded their home and raped the older child. What occurred is no secret. The younger child broke into the room and made an alarm

“Get up offa me sister,” the child reportedly demanded.

This is said to have prompted a violent response from the perverted perpetrator who stabbed and chopped the two girls mercilessly before fleeing through a window he had previously opened.

The incident occurred on September 30. Information imparted to me reveals that it was in a community nestled in Portmore, St Catherine and everyone’s lips are sealed there.

As we say in Jamaica: ‘Everybody know ah who do it.’

Why are we afraid?

There are too many intelligent people in Jamaica for us to be held at ransom by a couple dunce bats with guns. It takes only know how to fire a gun. It is not rocket science. If more of us had guns then criminals would think twice. The only reason why this crime is being covered up is because the perpetrator is willing to and has used violence to further his nefarious cause.

The rest of the community cowers in silence.

The relatives of those children are understandably shattered. Reports are that the suspect lived in close proximity to that household and had been licking his dirty lips for some time. He got his opportunity when an adult, in whose care they were placed, had left the home to purchase grocery items.

The evil man made his move. He broke in through a window and brutally assaulted the flowering child. He is well known in that community, but to date no information on his name or no photograph of him has been published for public consumption. The incident seems to have been missed by our dearly beloved media houses, of which only one has made any report on.

The Caymanas Police have confirmed that they know of the incident and are investigating.

But the question must be asked.

Why are the people of that community so afraid to state the obvious? Even if this man is a so called bad man, he breached the code. Raping underage girls is a no no. There are women out there who gravitate towards criminals. So raping your neighbour is never necessary.

The Jamaica I grew up in fed the hungry, led the blind and cared for the elderly and children. If you breached that code then the community coughed you up one way or another. What happened to those values?

That man must be hung out to dry.

That man who is accused of that crime has been known to inflict injury and death on innocent humans. He is a thorn in their flesh. The only way to get rid of a thorn is to pluck it out. Yet still everybody is afraid to pry the thorn away. Why?

In my estimation it is because the average citizen has no line of defense. Every child in Jamaica knows that informers die. It is ingrained in our brains. But the country has spiraled into a state of gangrene that death is no longer a deterrent. If you are standing in the wrong place at the wrong time death comes your way via the bullets from a miscreant’s gun. Enough is enough. Lots of Jamaicans have been killed for no cause but just by the luck of the draw.

So we die either way.

Get rid of the vermin among us. Weed them out.

The news out of Jamaica is so depressing. A high court judge sees it fit to chastise a cooperating witness and release a number of dangerous gang members in a landmark trial. Why then should anyone come forth with any information to damn criminals to a life behind bars? Only to be chided by a legal luminary?

Ordinary people have no defense and they will continue to be cannon fodder until we give them the right to defend life and property.

If there were guns in that house where the evil rapist broke into, and the children knew how to shoot, this column would be written in a different fashion.

Give the people the tools. It is the first tranche in the fight against crime.

Karyl Walker is a veteran journalist who served as the Jamaica Observer’s Crime/Court and Online News Editor. He now resides in Florida, USA.