Police on Monday said that there has been an overall 2% decrease in serious crime as at the end of April with a total of 36 murders inclusive of one execution being recorded.
A release said that the total number of reports of serious crimes made between January 1 and April 30, 2013 was 1257 compared to 1281 for the same period last year. Some of the offences monitored, the release added are murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape and kidnapping.
A total of 36 murders were recorded at the end of April 2013, the identical figure for the same period last year and out of that figure 14 were of the disorderly type, seven were committed during armed robberies, one was execution-type, and three were domestic related, while the remaining eleven are still to be categorized.
The release added that at the end of April this year robbery under arms had decreased by 16%, with 288 reports compared to 344 for the same period in 2012. The statistics, according to the release indicated a decrease of 12% in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms; and a 22% decrease in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators.
Meanwhile in the area of traffic there has been an increase of nine road fatalities at the end of April in comparison to the same period last year. The release said that there were 37 fatalities from 34 accidents compared to 28 fatalities from 27 accidents during last year. The period January 01 to April 30, 2013, “saw reductions in relation to the other categories of traffic accidents – serious, minor and damage”, it added.
The release said that so far, motor cyclists have been the main road users affected with eight such persons having lost their lives at the end of April. In addition seven pedestrians, seven pedal cyclists, six drivers of motor vehicles, and five passengers of motor vehicles also lost their lives.
Speeding, the police said continues to be a major contributing factor to fatal accidents and was the cause of 26 of the 34 fatal accidents recorded at the end of April.
Traffic enforcement by the police during the period January to April 2013 resulted in a total of 29,047 cases being made against errant motorists; of this total 7,689 cases were for speeding.
Four road fatalities have been recorded so far for the month of May from four accidents, the release added.
