Young criminals have received a warning that while they may not become immediate victims, innocent family members could suffer because of their actions.
The warning came as a Blanchard, Desruisseaux family mourned the death of thirteen-year-old Melchizedek Tixcy.
The Vieux Fort Comprehensive Secondary School student sustained a gunshot wound to the head on Wednesday as his family prepared to celebrate his fourteenth birthday on Friday.
Reports indicate that Melchizedek’s older brother, who is in his twenties and no longer lives in the family home, was the intended target when a group of individuals opened fire at the residence.
Melchizedek was inside when he sustained the fatal gunshot injury.
Merphilus James, President of the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) in Saint Lucia, in a passionate Facebook statement, condemned the ‘senseless, violent murder.’
He also had a message for young men and women who choose the path of crime.
“Understand that you may not be the immediate victim, but you will have to live seeing the misery that your actions and your involvement in delinquent and illicit activities bring upon your innocent family members,” James stated.
He noted that the deceased was the son of one of the organisation’s distinguished board members, Antonius Tixcy.
James recalled that the teenager was well-mannered, caring, loving, respectful, and highly disciplined.
“No child deserves to have their life snuffed out in this manner,” the NCPD President stated.
He said the NCPD joined in calling for fervent, effective actions, stringent government policies, proper parenting, and social programmes to combat the scourge of crime and violence affecting everyone.
“No one is immune,” James asserted.
He also urged citizens to work diligently to promote peace, positive resolution of issues and combat the crime and violence destroying the nation.
Granted that the criminal elements are already rooted in our society, the implementation of strategies must be systematic and well coordinated.
– strengthening laws to discourage criminality making it very unpalatable for persons to commit crime. Stiff penalties for gun, ammunition, knife possession and even more stiffer penalties for violent crime and convictions. Give the authorities the tools needed to do their job, including the most modern crime fighting and detection equipment and strategies. Law courts should be efficient in dishing out justice.. justice should be quick to ensure their is no backlog in the courts. Rehabilitation of criminals should be given a priority to ensure once they have served their sentences, there is a way to integrate them back into society where they can be effective functional citizens contributing in a positive way to society.
– monitoring systems in school to detect problem/troubled children who exhibit behaviour that leads to future delinquency. Often times children who exhibit such behaviour have issues at home. An organisation manned by social workers, psychologists, Doctors, and various other experts will go a long way in helping children readjust into more well rounded fully functional contributing citizens.
– Education, Education, Education. This should be a prize every Saint Lucian should pursue. Every citizen should have a minimum of a college level education. We need universities in Saint Lucia to broaden the scope of intellect in Saint Lucia. STEM subjects should be given pride of place in society. Statistics shows that the more educated a population, the more affluent society becomes, their intellectual, cognitive and ability to reason with logic benefits society. This will help with individuals making better choices and decisions in life when faced with difficult situations.
– Sport, Sport, Sport…we need more sports in Saint Lucia to increase the number of Saint Lucians representing us at international events. That would also open up scholarship opportunities for our citizens. Plus create a culture of coaching up and coming kids interested in any sporting discipline. Sporting disciplines that can be easily implemented are sports like Badminton, archery, fencing, table tennis, in athletics( relay teams in the various disciplines, huddles in the various disciplines) etc etc…the list can be as big as needed including non traditional sports such as gymnastics, equestrian, target shooting etc etc. Sports should be made competitive between constituencies. Inter Schools sporting competitions should be elevated in prestige making it very competitive. This should go into scouting for potential elite athletes who will go on to represent Saint Lucia on the international stage.
– Single parent families should be given assistance if needed by creating an organisation that ensures that these families get support if they are struggling to raise their kids. That includes counselling, proper parental skills, family dynamics analysis, parental involvement is kid’s development ( that can be link with the organisation that monitors children behavioural attitudes in schools). That can be funded by the big private companies who have enjoyed making profits from the Saint Lucian public. A fund should be opened in that instance.
These are in no way going to rid society of all it’s ills but it would go a long way in eventually reducing the scourge we now face in society. Often times, communities can do things for themselves without waiting on government to intervene. Yet, the initiative should be taken by government who has a responsibility for the society that elected it. Government should also support groups who do things that benefits society by supporting them with micro finance to help them deliver their societal goals.
There is more but I will end my already long post.
@C-Wiz although it was a length post it is extremely relevant: I am not certain what position you hold in St. Lucia if any – but you need to be in charge of a board of collaborators in St. Lucia for sure.
We all need to accept the truth even though we may not like it or agree with it and your post highlights the truth.
dats c wiz plan?? chpz tun…so much sports education slu have? wats new?? but he deh criticizng everybody
@ Jay
Thanks for the observation. We can only work deligently to get our society where we want it to be….each citizen playing their part in whatever positive way possible. I am surely doing my bit for a better Saint Lucia. Thanks again.
@ Wats new
So what is your contribution to the debate here? Offer something remotely tangible to the conversation on how you would make society better. Offer your plan rather than ONLY CRITICISING what others say. I agree, I do criticise other comments at times but I offer something in return. It’s called critical thinking, discourse and analysis. It’s healthy and it’s good for conversing purposes. Any society who wants to make forward progress needs healthy discourse. Mind you, the problem is not your criticism but the problem is your criticism WITHOUT OFFERING an alternative or contributing something to the discussion. And since you highlighted Saint Lucia has so much education perhaps you would do well to get some and learn to write properly and express yourself more clearly. You obviously write the way you speak and speak the way you write…but then again you may very well be highly educated but also earned a degree in b*ll-sh*tery.
@C-Wiz. I browse through your rather lengthy post and noted some good points. One thing I would add is that our society must change so that persons are rewarded fairly for their education, skills, experience and achievements. In my opinion, part of the reason we have some much criminality among the youth is because a lot of them have lost hope in the system. We’re being told we should get educated to elevate ourselves and we do so, yet the lucrative jobs are given to persons who are politically connected. You know how many college graduates we have sitting around who are unemployed or under employed and how many people in various positions who have not earned these places? When people lose hope it’s a terrible thing. In St. Lucia, education does not raise us out of poverty, politics and crime do. Sad situation.
None of these will solve the problems !! That is for us to know and find out:
Isaiah 55v..
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,and do not return to it 🌿 without watering the earth and making it but and flourish,so that it yeilds seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
So is my word that goes out from my mouth :
I🌿t will not return to me empty, but I will accomplish what I désire and acheive the purpose for which I sent it (JESUS ❗
The foolish say in their thoughts, there is no God !!
@ Sad
You made a good point on the issue of citizens are not being used for their skills when they have pursued further education. I have often wondered with all these scholarships, what happened to the graduates once they have finished their studies. I presume many stayed for employment in the country where they studied or migrated to the USA, Canada or Europe for employment. I think the government has done well to secure scholarships in Taiwan, Cuba and Morocco for Saint Lucians but the government must seek to put that talent pool of educated nationals into use. It’s a great opportunity for diversifying our economy by using the expertise these students have gained. I agree with you as you are absolutely correct.