Hang them high - Ananda Dean’s father wants death penalty for child killers

“I feel my head raise and tears just start flow out my eyes,” Richard Dean said, when he got news that eight-year-old Shante Skyers’ body was found in Blue Hole, St Andrew, on Tuesday.

Dean’s 11-year-old daughter, Ananda, went missing on September 17, 2008, and like Shante, her body was found on a Tuesday. He told THE WEEKEND STAR that he could not sleep on Tuesday night as Shante’s death brought back sad memories.

“Words can’t explain how I feel last night. Worse it was a Tuesday (Skyers was found) and it was the same time that my daughter was found too. It just carry back everything; from inna the bush where she was found, and she was found inna the same way dem find Ananda. It is totally disturbing man,” he said.

Reintroduce hanging

Police data indicate that 7,270 children have been reported missing since 2015. Of that number, 6,611 have returned home and 24 were discovered dead. The whereabouts of 640 of the children reported missing over the period is not known.

Dean told THE WEEKEND STAR that the only way to put a stop to the abuse of children is for authority to reintroduce hanging. He added that too often men are not fazed with spending time in prison and just see it as a way to eat without doing actual work. He insists that more needs to be done to punish people who take the lives of innocent children.

“I did not sleep at all last night. I just keep on seeing the same thing over and over. As I post on my Facebook page, I think they should try hanging. That is the only thing that will change these men’s minds. It may not benefit 100 per cent, but at least these killers will have something to think about because they will say: ‘This is what will happen to us if they are to be caught,” he said.

“Dem probably a seh if we get caught, dem a go spend some time a prison, eat some food and still get to see people. No man, you nuffi a interact with people if you get caught. Straight death penalty! Straight hanging because how can you kill a helpless eight-year-old child?”