Killing Our Kids in JAMAICA - At Least 30 Children Murdered Across The Island Since January Police Source Said....The sources further say up to Friday the official death toll was 312 since the start of this year, an 11 per cent jump above the 288 recorded for the corresponding period last year.

Published:Sunday | April 19, 2015Glenroy Sinclair and Arthur Hall

The numbing, cold-blooded murder of three teenagers in the Monymusk Housing Scheme in Clarendon last Wednesday has again forced the nation to focus on the brutal acts being committed against some of the most vulnerable in the society.

File photo

A little over a month into 2015, official data revealed that 15 children had been killed in Jamaica since the start of this year. Now, less than two months later, police sources are reporting that at least 30 children have been killed across the island since January. The sources further say up to Friday the official death toll was 312 since the start of this year, an 11 per cent jump above the 288 recorded for the corresponding period last year.

"My heart is full of sadness that such wickedness has become part of the Jamaican reality," declared Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller as she responded to the latest heartless act against Jamaica's children. "The long arm of the law must prevail in this and other incidence of murder, especially those involving the nation's children," was the cry from Opposition Leader Andrew Holness.

Head of the Criminal Investigation Branch, Assistant Commissioner Ealan Powell, has pointed to reprisals, sexual molestation and gang-related incidents as among the reasons behind the killing of some of the nation's children. Powell told The Sunday Gleaner that by any measure, as a nation we are failing the young ones.

According to Powell, while a number of teenagers are being monitored by the police, based on intelligence that they are involved in gang activities, the majority of the children killed were innocent victims. more