Chang says attacks on women and children are barbaric

National security minister Dr Horace Chang says there has been a 29 per cent decline in the number of children murdered in Jamaica. 

Speaking in Parliament today, October 30, Chang, however, said that "when compared to last year, the attacks on these vulnerable groups appear to be more heinous and barbaric and is cause for grave concern to the government."

He told fellow legislators that while the government can speak to an overall 21 per cent decline in the number of murders in Jamaica since the start of the year, there has been a series of cruel attacks on vulnerable groups — particularly the elderly and young girls.

IN PHOTO: Family, friends and well-wishers take a final look at the body of Khyhymn Campbell who was murdered by a man who later committed suicide. A thanksgiving service was held for the 25-year-old woman at the True Holiness Vine Ministries church in Manchester.

"The forever silent voices of 38 of our children that were taken from us since January, like 14-year-old Yetanya Francis and 14-year-old Raven Wilson, saddens and shames us as a nation. The slaughter of Deon Smith and her 16 year-old daughter, Jayshenel Gordon, as well as the slaying of 25-year old Khyhymn Campbell, allegedly by persons they knew well, indicate a level of callousness in the souls of some of our citizens that must be rooted out," the minister said.

IN PHOTO: Wayne Marshall (right) and Latoya Riley, mother of Yetanya, comfort each other at the thanksgiving service for the 14-year-old, which was held at the Half-Way Tree Seventh-day Adventist Church, St Andrew, on September 30.

Yetanya, 14, left home in Arnett Gardens on August 23 to go to a nearby shop to purchase food. When she did not return home, a search was launched by residents of the community, but she was not found. Her nude, partly burnt body was found in a section of the community by residents the following day.