“Thief! Thief!”
As a child, you dreaded hearing those words, especially in the stillness of the night. You often prayed that those screams would never emanate from within your home. The screams would wake the neighbourhood and some would bravely venture outside their homes in an effort to catch the thief or thieves.
The first time vigilante justice entered my consciousness, it evoked feelings of confusion and then relief. The man was a known thief and he was caught in the act. In my young mind, thieves were some of the worst people and stopping them meant that we would all be safer. My thinking was influenced by the way some of the adults talked about the incident. On one hand, there were those who felt sympathy for the dead man, but the majority said that he got what he deserved because he was a nuisance and had hurt many people.
Recently, two young men lost their lives and one man was seriously injured as a result of acts of vigilante justice.
In the case of Levi Alleyne, it was alleged that he snatched a phone, which resulted in him being beaten. He later died in the hospital. At least one relative swore that he was not a thief and that he was just on his way to visit his father at Paradise, on the East Coast of Demerara, and was taking a short cut through Enterprise when he was attacked.