What about the children? - Man whose father killed his mother speaks out

Sixty years ago, Lynden Minott, 67, lost both his parents when his father, John Minott, killed his mother, Anita Bushay, in Delacree Lane, Kingston.

His father was convicted for the murder and was hanged. Fast-forward to today, Minott feels as though he is reliving his childhood trauma with all the domestic killings that have slammed Jamaica so early into 2020.

"It is totally wrong! I am the child of a man who committed such an act. My father kill my mother and me suffer all a my life. My father was wrong! Weh my mother coulda do fi him kill har? What a woman can do fi a man decide fi kill har? Nuh care weh she do, dat wrong! Me just start talk bout these things ... nobody nuh know these things! Me grow up and neva talk bout these things... dem just oppress my mind," the Denham Town, Kingston resident said.

BETTER UPBRINGING

Minott said that the problem of domestic violence can be solved through better upbringing of young men.

"Mothers fi start mek the likkle boy dem wash dem clothes and put a frock inna the water fi dem wash it," he said.

He urges men to think about the mess they will leave behind, before they even think about killing their spouses and suicide. "What about the children?" he asked.

"Without woman, no birth caah gwan. Den dem a seh 'till death do us part.' A really death cause dem a kill di woman dem. I don't accept that! If yuh feel like you have the power fi kill a woman, start deal wid man and stop deal wid woman. It affi stop... di killings need fi stop."