Government Senator Abka Fitz-Henley says it is unfortunate that lobby group Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) is now perceived across some sections of society as an organisation that has evolved into one which provides comfort for rogue elements and is supportive of criminals.

Fitz-Henley made the comment as he pushed back against JFJ Executive Director Mickel Jackson’s criticism of Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s remark that gunmen who carried out the brutal murder of eight people in Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon, and injured several others last Sunday should either be carried before a judge or meet their maker.

Holness had made the comment in one of several posts to his social media account on Monday in response to the massacre. He said he was ensuring that “all the resources necessary from the State — whether financing, international cooperation, legislative support — will be made available to the security forces to pursue this relentlessly. They must either meet the judge or meet their maker, whichever they choose”.

Earlier, during an emergency press briefing at Jamaica House, after a meeting of the National Security Council, Holness declared a “total assault on gangs” across the island and pledged that the “Government will use this opportunity to deal with the gangs once and for all”.

Declaring that Jamaica has “played with gangs for far too long”, Holness said, “We will not treat this as another criminal act; we will treat this as an act of terror. Therefore, we have given directions to the security forces to launch an all-out assault on the gangs that are involved.”

On Tuesday, Jackson expressed concern to the Jamaica Observer that the prime minister’s comments amount to “state badmanness” and could serve as encouragement for vigilante killings by incensed citizens.

“By suggesting that individuals must face the court or their makers, there is a risk of inciting a culture of violence and retribution, undermining the very principles of justice that we, as a society, hold dear. This rhetoric not only threatens to escalate tensions,” the JFJ executive director told the Observer on Tuesday.

But during an interview with the Observer shortly after a media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister on Wednesday, Senator Fitz-Henley slammed JFJ and defended the prime minister.

“JFJ should read the room. It is really a no-brainer that gunmen who pump bullets into men, women, and children, including a one- and eight-year-old, will not hesitate to take on the security forces when they are engaged, and therefore the comment by the prime minister was quite in order that individuals who carried out the act of savagery should either be taken before a judge or meet their maker,” Fitz-Henley said.

“I have deep respect and regard for the work done by JFJ in the past, in presenting a voice for the voiceless, being advocates in cases including Agana Barrett and Michael Gayle, but I caution the current leadership of the organisation to be careful that it has not become an organisation that is viewed as supportive of rogue elements and that its messaging does not appear to be supportive of criminality,” Fitz-Henley said.

While declaring that “enough is enough”, he said JFJ should recognise that the Jamaican society is not in a space where law-abiding citizens are prepared to tolerate support, whether tacit or otherwise, for gunmen who have been brutalising law-abiding citizens and driving fear into communities.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Senator Dana Morris Dixon said that while the Government is committed to the rule of law it has to send a strong message to criminals who shoot innocent people, including children.

“The rights of the victims are important, that’s what we’ve been focusing on, but we also believe in the rule of law and so, that statement was just saying that our goal is to bring them in, bringing them to justice, take them to a court of law, but we know that in some cases some will not be willing to go in that direction; and what we have said is that we will do whatever we can, within the ambit of the law, to eliminate all of the gangs and to build a much safer community for every single Jamaican,” she said.

“We believe that our police must have restraint, but we also understand that there are those who will go after the police, and we’ve seen it time and time again…we prefer that these individuals turn themselves in…but as we’ve said, we’re gonna have to be strong, and as a country we’re going to have to stand up to these gangs,” Morris Dixon added.