Still living in fear Murders down islandwide but Kidd Lane residents don’t feel safer

Making a statement in the House of Representatives on October 6, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security and Peace, Dr Horace Chang, said that, as of that day, Jamaica had recorded 407 murders, compared with 534 over the corresponding period in 2025 – a reduction of 24 per cent.

But, for some of the remaining residents of the embattled Kidd Lane in St Andrew, the decline may be a bit too late for some families.

“Yea, dem say crime down, but people still a feel it because to be poor is a crime too. Nah pick up fi no gunman, but when a little youth know say him can get a piece a food, if a man hire him to go do summen, him ago do it. The economy needs to be better and only some people a get food. Yea, crime down, but what happen to the people dem whose picture you see draw pon di wall? Dat nuh do nothing fi dem. Mi can badda ya,” she said.

As she pulled a hoodie over her head to conceal her face, a woman told THE STAR that while a decline in murders is obvious, she does not feel safer.

“Yea, the bag a killings nah gwan like one time, but yuh still have the one dem weh act like dem nuh fraid a police and dem above the law. Right now, mi fraid like puss, mi nah lie, because yuh don’t know when death a come knock pon yuh door. The girl weh she and her baby dead did inna good mood Friday eno. She just a laugh suh and see people take away her smile. Suh mi no feel safe,” she said.

Kidd Lane was under a curfew when armed thugs barged into the premises into the yard of 30- year-old Lashane Ellis, her one-year-old son Kaheel Daley, and their neighbour, 39-year-old Kimeisha Gibson, killing all three. But member of parliament (MP) for the St Andrw South West, Dr Angela Brown-Burke, said while the curfew was imposed, she is left wondering what more can be done to ensure the safety of the residents.

“When you are under curfew and you are asked to go in your home, you are also expected that there is some form of vigilance by the police patrol that would deter persons from doing these things. There is a reason why the area is under curfew and that you think things like these are likely to happen, so you would not want anyone on the road,” she said.

“But, if you send them home to close their gates and there is no police presence on the road to be vigilant and to offer some level of protection, then what it ends up being is that they are locked up in the house, but then they become vulnerable to those who would want to come in the dead of night to do things like this.”

“I am thinking about what more we can do to ensure that we offer the kind of protection for families like these,” the MP added. Yesterday, a strong police presence was observed in the community.