People’s National Party (PNP) youth activist Lawman Lynch is calling for additional measures to tackle violence after he became one of the island’s many crime victims early yesterday morning.
Lynch’s grey Mitsubishi Grandis motor car was firebombed about 3 o’clock while it was parked outside his house in Woodford Park, St Andrew.
“I heard an explosion outside my house. I figured, more or less, it was an attack on the house but when I came outside I realised that it was the car that was firebombed,” Lynch told The Gleaner.
He said neighbours, family members and friends helped to put out the blaze but not before the interior of the vehicle was destroyed.
Lynch has not ruled out the possibility that the attack was because of his outspoken political views, but he was quick to attempt to move the incident outside the scope of politics.
“It goes way beyond politics. I think, as a nation, we have come to accept nasty behaviour from miscreants and delinquents and I think it is now time for it to stop,” Lynch said.
The act was also condemned by the PNP, which noted that Lynch has been a powerful change agent in inner-city communities.
Hours after tv appearance
Opposition spokesperson on youth, Lisa Hanna, expressed concern that the attack came hours after Lynch appeared on a television programme expressing his views on the prime minister’s statement to the nation in relation to the Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke extradition matter.
“While our nation continues to wrestle this monster of violence that has a stranglehold on us as a people, we need to be mindful that our democracy can only be strengthened if we allow our citizens their constitutional right of free speech to thrive in an environment that is devoid of threat, fear and reprisal,” said Hanna.
Hanna urged Lynch not to be deterred in his efforts to make a positive contribution to the country by what she described as “an unfortunate episode”.
Be the first to comment