Pressure leads to suicide, not homicide says PM Gonsalves

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has shared the view that frustration among persons in society will tend to lead to suicide, not homicide.

Gonsalves, who is also this country’s Minister of National Security, shared this view last week as he spoke at a regional symposium on crime in Trinidad and Tobago. He said that the issue of crime is complex, with various manifestations and believes there is no one set of causes of crime.

“Different crimes have different causes,” he said.

The Prime Minister said he does not believe the view “that the causes of violent crimes reside in the economic sphere.”

“I do not accept that at all.”

He argued that if this was so there would have been more murders and more violent crimes in the 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s, when this country was not as economically advanced as today.

“I don’t accept the view that people kill one another because they are frustrated.

“If you are frustrated with life or living, you will kill yourself.”

This however is not the case and Gonsalves, pointed out that “We don’t kill ourselves,we kill other people.”

The prime minister recalled that he has never heard anyone charged with murder, using frustration, or that they come from a poor home in defense of their alleged crime.

He made these points last week Monday and on Tuesday, he reinforced his argument saying that if people are frustrated, and they devalue life, “they will commit suicide, not homicide.”

Prime Minister Gonsalves was among regional leaders who met in Port of Spain to address the issue of Crime and Violence as a public health issue.

At the end of the two day meeting, the leader declared “war on guns “ to combat the illegal trade “which provides the weapons that contribute significantly to crime and violence in our region, causing death, disabilities and compromising the safety of our citizens.”

The regional heads further made a call for the United States of America “to join the Caribbean in the war on guns and urgently adopt and take action to stop the illegal exportation of firearms and ammunition into the Caribbean.”