THE Jamaica Observer’s reporter, Ms Tamoy Ashman, conducted one of journalism’s most consequential interviews ever, as captured in the paper’s Monday lead story titled ‘Painful Mother’s Day!’

For as long as most people alive can remember, mothers could be seen fiercely defending their sons, even for the most monstrous atrocities, claiming they were saints and upstanding citizens who never “mash ants” their entire lives.

In Ms Ashman’s interview with Ms Lurline Williams, the mother of accused child-killer Giovanni Ellis, the distraught mother did not attempt to paint her son as an angel. Instead, she told the journalist that he was the exact opposite.

Neither did she greet his demise in a reported confrontation with police Monday with the now-famous cry “We want justice! We want justice!” Indeed, she declared that she herself would have taken his life, if she got the chance.

It is alleged that Ellis sexually assaulted nine-year-old Kelsey Ferrigon before he killed her and stuffed her body in a barrel inside her house at Job Lane in Spanish Town, St Catherine, last Friday. It was also reported that Ellis had been recently released on bail before he committed the crime.

“Him a wicked!” is how Ms Williams described her son to the newspaperwoman on what was a painful Mother’s Day for her. “Mi nuh have nothing to do with that young man. Nothing at all, mi nuh have nothing to do with him,” she said.

Ms Williams, a mother of five, explained that Ellis was her third child and had been placed in the custody of his father when he was two years old. He was the only child to cause her so much heartache.

“When him come weh mi deh, he’s just like a problem child. Him never live with me for a good month so mi couldn’t give you definite information about him background and how him stay, but mi know him wicked,” she said. “Weh him do yah so, mi can tell you seh him wicked. Him nuh have no heart, and mi nuh have none fi him,” she declared.

The brutal killing of the child understandably shook the nation to its core. Every decent Jamaican here and abroad has felt shame, embarrassment and pain. And while there was also understandable relief that the accused killer was put out of his misery, and rather quickly too, there’s a substantial lesson that ought not to be missed.

This was a troubled man who was angry with society, as his mother’s account demonstrated. He had committed rape and other assaults for which he spent time in custody, and in fact had just been out on bail before proceeding to snuff out the life of the innocent child.

It shows that relying on hard policing as the main element of fighting crime will never be sufficient. This episode comes at the very moment we are celebrating the dramatic drop in major crimes — something we had all been longing for.

Furthermore, it is pointing us to the great likelihood that there are many more Giovanni Ellises out there, waiting to take out their anger on society. We should be asking ourselves: What had been happening with Ellis since he left his mother’s care? Was society unwittingly creating this monster while all our institutional interventions failed?

And importantly, how many mothers are remaining tight-lipped or still providing succour to criminal sons? A way must be found to encourage them to come forward. Ms Williams might have waited too late to speak out.