The cruel twist in the murder of Hannah Mathura, who was shot in the head and buried in a shallow grave in the backyard of her Valsayn home, is that no one outside her family realised she had been missing for seven years.
As horrific as the few details known about this tragic case are, there is also the hard-to-digest reality that T&T has been down this road before, recoiling in outrage, sadness and fear at the loss of another young life in violent circumstances.
Hannah, at 18, was legally an adult when she was killed but even with the little that is known about her life and untimely death, it is clear that she was a vulnerable young woman who was denied care and protection.
Her case demands justice, not only in the courts of law but with a national response that confronts and repairs the broken systems that continue to fail so many young citizens.
Justice demands that this nation gets serious and becomes consistent in administering interventions and programmes to rescue and protect the nation’s vulnerable children — those at risk of becoming victims of crime, as well as young perpetrators of crime.
The need for more effective initiatives to protect T&T’s children was discussed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley when he returned from the 46th Caricom Heads of Government Meeting in Guyana late last month.
Hannah’s case now puts that plan to use a portion of the $100 million allocated for crime-fighting on programmes to protect children into sharper focus.
Of particular interest is the proposal for a commission to help families effectively raise children, and there was a promise to have a clearer picture of the way forward by the end of this month.
Dr Rowley must be held to his word, particularly because it wasn’t the first time he publicly expressed concern about the challenges facing the nation’s children.
A year ago, at the official handover ceremony for Hayes Court at Queen’s Park West, he called on religious bodies to help citizens fully exercise their responsibilities to children by teaching them right from wrong and steering them away from the criminal path.
On that occasion, he was speaking in response to a rise in school violence and the increase in young criminal offenders.
That narrative must, of urgent necessity, be expanded to include reinforcing the rights of children to protection, education, healthcare, shelter, and good nutrition.
But the onus isn’t only on Dr Rowley and his administration. Justice demands that every ministry, state agency, church and NGO involved in the care and development of T&T’s children steps up their efforts.
Every law-abiding citizen should also get involved in the protection of our children.
There should be widespread concern that the horrific case of Hannah, who lay buried and forgotten in a shallow grave for years, is not an isolated incident.
T&T can’t afford to forget the tragic, short lives of Amy Annamunthodo, Sean Luke, Radha “Pixie” Lakhan, Akiel Chambers, Tecia Henry, the Peterkin siblings, who were slaughtered in Heights of Guanapo, and the many other children brutally murdered in this country.
Justice still has not been delivered in the majority of these cases and these slaughtered innocents are evidence of our failure to protect them.
They all deserve justice.
