Opinion: Reintroduce capital punishment

by G. Eric Muscreen

It is high time that the reintroduction of the capital punishment is considered due to the despicable crimes committed at present.

The eradication of an entire family comprising four members at Nainamadama last year, should be an eye opener for all those speaking against the introduction of the death penalty on religious grounds.

If one considers the horrendous crimes committed against females any right-thinking person would endorse what I suggest. I watched on television that a female infant of 1-1/2 years had been sexually abused by the child's mother's paramour, when the baby was given to him by its mother to be taken care of. The infant had to undergo two operations. I also watched on television that the Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe contemplating the reintroduction of the capital punishment to arrest the ever increasing incidence of crimes.

At present, a criminal will not have second thoughts of killing a single individual or an entire family, as he knows that he will remain in jail (if apprehended) until being released on parole or the natural call comes for him to depart from this world.

I remember with great sorrow as to how an Indian beauty, Ms. Rita John was gang-raped and killed when she was strolling on the sea beach at Crow Island with her fiancé some years back.

The perpetrators may still be spending their time in jail. If the death penalty was in force, they would have had second thoughts and not committed the crime, knowing the dire consequences. Even a 13-year-old girl at Nainamadama had been raped.

The innocent girl is supposed to have attained age recently.

Her father, a 52-year-old millionaire businessman, mother, 43-year-old Dental Surgeon and 15-year-old brother had been hacked to death. However, the suspect had committed suicide by jumping into a river even before legal action could be initiated.