Sixteen-year-old Rachael Ramkissoon was murdered by someone who knew that criminal detection and prosecution in this country is weak, someone who understood that technicalities and sloppy evidence-gathering often set killers free in our courts, that weak policing is more the norm than the exception, and that equipment purchases in national security have historically been based more on what looks good, than on what we actually need.
The killer probably also believes that if he is ever caught, the case will be built on circumstantial evidence and there will be several more opportunities to do wrong before he will ever be held accountable within our criminal justice system.
Ramkissoon's murder comes just weeks after young Shannon Banfield's body was discovered in the storage room of a busy store in Port of Spain and civil society and other groups began a sustained campaign for justice and protection of our women.
Both Rachael and Shannon were doing what thousands of women do every day. Their deaths weren't "gang related" and therefore "explainable".
Their lives were brutally terminated at the hands of killers who fundamentally understand that justice is not a guarantee in this country and in crime fighting, results are few.
The question for many now is this: have predators become so emboldened by the sheer number of unprosecuted homicides in this country that they attack and kill with little fear of detection?
The safety of our women and girls has generated debate. The well-meaning among us have called on them to "do more to protect themselves."
Recommendations like learning self-defence or carrying pepper spray are now popular.
The 'realists' insist that women must, at all costs, avoid dangerous situations.
Shannon and Rachael weren't doing anything dangerous. They were on paths they knew.
Unless the crime detection rate in this country is seriously addressed, officers are given the tools and training to solve crime, the education system provides support to teachers, guidance counselors and therapists to work with troubled students, and we as a people refuse to be spectators and take small determined actions to reclaim our country, this sickening madness will continue.
So we have a choice: helicopter-parent our children, live in fear and anxiety about our every move, or find a way to change this culture of impunity and the attitudes that enable violence against women.
We must work towards a day when safety becomes a guaranteed right, not just for our women and daughters but for every person who walks on our soil.
The question for many now is this: have predators become so emboldened by the sheer number of unprosecuted homicides in this country that they attack and kill with little fear of detection?