The Covid-19 situation has imposed enormous stress on everyone, but leaving that aside what most affects us is less the nonsense from the politicians than the inconveniences, irritations and frustrations that impinge on the pursuit of our daily lives. It might be uncollected garbage in our area, blocked drains, pollution from some commercial operation in the neighbourhood, or for drivers, the anarchy on our roads. But there is something else which encroaches on our right to a peaceful existence and which makes life intolerable for many citizens up and down the country. It is noise nuisance.
This has been a problem for decades, yet despite the fact that various officials from former Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, to former Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan have given assurances that it will be tackled, nothing much appears to have materialised as a consequence of their efforts. It takes various forms, of course, and is not confined to beer parlours and those who frequent them. There are weddings, passing cars, minibuses and itinerant vendors who push their carts at a leisurely pace around the central districts of the city, playing their tapes at an ear-splitting decibel level, to mention a few.
Noise nuisance is an offence, and therefore the police are in the front line for controlling it. That they have not been very successful in this is no news to anyone. There may be many reasons for their failings in this regard which potentially could vary from one area to another. However, one of these would seem to be that even where they do respond to complaints, this goes no further than a verbal warning to the offender, who will simply wait until they have gone before turning up the volume again. While it is not clear how conscientious the police are in all regions at responding to complaints, it is clear that there are few charges brought in relation to noise nuisance. In other words, since it seems to carry no sanctions, the guilty parties do not even recognise it as an offence. In fact, they invariably think they have a right to play music or whatever, at any level they choose.
Consistent transgressions in relation to more minor aspects of the law, undermine any society which seeks to operate in rule-governed mode, and in due course this will lead to more serious offending. We see this occurring in all kinds of ways in this country, so the line between right and wrong becomes blurred for some citizens and those unquestionably in the wrong are often convinced they have right on their side, or simply feel free to function in a Thrasymachus mindset where might is right.
Given that, what the criminal law might deem a minor offence can sometimes morph into something altogether more grave. So it was last Saturay when a Hindu priest, Mr Rishi Bharrat, was beaten to death outside his residence in Crab-wood Creek following an altercation with about a dozen noisy, drunken men who were verbally abusing his daughters.
The men were said to have been drinking opposite his premises and began to use indecent language and behave in a disorderly fashion.
When they began to verbally abuse Mr Bharrat’s young daughters he then scolded them through the window. Subsequent to that he phoned the Spring-lands Police Station, but the police did not come. Since the men were continuing to behave in a raucous fashion, Mr Bharrat went outside with a stick to try and chase them off, and an argument ensued. One man described how when the priest turned to come inside one of the group hit him on the head and he fell. Thereupon all of them started to strike him. Neighbours said that the offenders had picked up pieces of wood which they saw on the road to beat him with. When the family took him to the Springlands Hospital he was pronounced dead on arrival, and it was here that the police finally put in an appearance.
The police initially arrested 12 people in relation to the killing, and later reported that they had obtained four confessions. Region Six Police Commander Jairam Ramlakhan and his administration expressed condolences to the family, and gave the assurance that every effort would be made to see that the perpetrators were brought to justice. The Commander went on to say that the police would be patrolling the area on a regular basis to deal with the crime situation. No doubt the friends and family of Mr Bharrat would consider that this all comes a little late.
One wonders too, how long these patrols would be maintained, and while they may well be effective for the duration they are in operation, it is more than likely that once they cease the problem may again rear its head, as has happened in other places. What relatives told this newspaper was that their community was plagued by groups of men drinking at various corners, and that they would often be a nuisance in front of Mr Bharrat’s residence. Many reports had been made in the past, and the police would come and chase the troublemakers away, but then they would come back.
And herein lies the essence of the problem. The men were chased away in the past, but no one, as far as can be established, was arrested and charged. One presumes that on the night Mr Bharrat was murdered, the police could not be bothered to come and chase away the perpetrators yet again. And this was despite the fact that on this occasion, if not on previous ones as well, there was more than noise nuisance at issue and they could have been charged on more than one count.
Had the police shown a disposition to effect arrests and initiate charges on earlier occasions, then perhaps this whole story might have had a different ending. It might be added that this is not the first time that serious crimes have followed the regular commission of minor ones which the police have failed to confront. There was the horrendous story of a lady in Kitty, who had acid thrown on her because, it was thought, she had been complaining of noise nuisance from a bar next door to her home.
It is tragedies like these which draw attention to the potential of the widespread commission of minor crimes to lead to crime of a more serious character, and the general erosion of societal norms of decency. Living in Guyana nowadays places enough strain on the average resident, without adding noise nuisance and abusive inebriated youths to the mix. Aren’t we all entitled to enjoy peace in our own homes? Will Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn and Police Commissioner (ag) Nigel Hoppie take on the issue of noise nuisance and offences of that ilk, and will the police force ensure that offenders are brought before the courts for a change?
