Cold-blooded killings possibly due to sociopathic behaviour, says Psychologist as second alleged hit-man arraigned for murder

Last Updated on Monday, 21 September 2015, 20:42 by GxMedia

In the wake of two separate alleged home invasions and killings, a psychologist wants Guyanese police to examine their records to see if there has been a pattern of such incidents which might be due to sociopathic behaviour.

“Sociopathic behaviour is when people behave as if they have no moral conscience so that a person can look at somebody and kill them in cold blood without having any cause or any reason and then justify it,” she told Demerara Waves Online News.

Dr. Paloma Mohammed-Martin’s perspective was made Monday, the same day that 21-year old self-confessed hit man, Oswald Junior Yaw also known as Meow and Jason was arraigned for the hammer-murder of Nathan Andrew Persaud at Herstelling, East Bank Demerara. 

He has told police that he had been hired by the man’s ex-wife, Beverley Persaud, to kill  him on September 10, 2015. By the alleged killer’s own account, Persaud was lured back into his house where Yaw allegedly hammered him 20 times to his head and then wrote the number ‘20’ in blood on a refrigerator in the house.

Back on August 1, 2015 23-year old Colin Alleyne pounced on 77-year old Dhanrasie ‘Carmen’ Ganesh in a house at Montrose, East Coast Demerara and bludgeoned her with a spanner in exchange for  payment by a yet to be identified person.

The common thread in both incidents appears to be property disputes. I bpth instances, police said the perpetrators gave them gory details about how they allegedly killed their targets in exchange for payments.

Dr. Mohammed-Martin explained that sociopathic behaviour is linked to how children are raised and the socio-economic conditions such as grave deprivation and virtual lack of care. Other theories could include the disintegration of criminal gangs whose members are now “fending for themselves in ways they feel like” as well as high unemployment and deprivation and fractured families that lead to poor parenting.

“If that is not in place they learn to cope the best way they can and part of coping for some people is killing their emotions so if they can’t feel for themselves, they can’t feel for you,” she said.

She recommended that the police examine its statistics to ascertain whether there has been a pattern of such crimes that have been allegedly committed by persons between 19 and 27 years old within the last six months.

The Guyana Police Force recently established a social crime prevention programme through which they work with communities, religious organisations and experts in identifying problems and finding solutions to some criminal activities.