SANTOY, Hanover – Less than two months after a triple murder in Santoy that left the community blanketed by fear, a group of stakeholders led by the March Town Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) on Saturday staged an outreach initiative aimed at restoring peace and order in the area.
The activity was held at the Santoy square, the same location where three people were killed and four others injured in the incident on March 18, which sent shock waves throughout Hanover.
Guest speaker, Pastor Glen Samuels, who is the president of the West Jamaica Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, noted that the last time he visited the area was shortly after six members of one family were slaughtered gangland-style in the adjoining community of Campbellton Road, Logwood, in October 2015.
“We are saying to Santoy, we are saying to March Town [and] we are saying to Hanover, this is Jamaica’s smallest parish with just about 69,874 people based on Statin’s [Statistical Institute of Jamaica] 2011 record. What the hell are we doing with such a runaway murder rate?” questioned the West Jamaica Conference head, who pointed out that there are “too many irresponsible homes and parents who are producing irresponsible children”.
Police records show that, while other crimes are down, shootings and murders have slightly increased in the western parish.
