NEWS: Make Abortion illegal say's Earl Witter

 

Public Defender, Earl Witter, has recommended that the Government devise legislation that makes the death of a child in the womb an offence when the mother is killed.

Public Defender, Earl Witter

 Witter’s comments come on the heels of the murder of two pregnant women in the last three weeks.

"While all murders will cause concern, grief and suffering, the killing of pregnant women “represents a species of depravity that offends all notions and standards of basic decency and morality,” He said in a media release.

Witter referenced the British law, The United Kingdom Infant Life (Preservation) Act, 1929, which makes one liable for the death of an unborn child if an illegal act, such as shooting, is committed to a pregnant woman, which causes the death of the child.

Last week Chantal Davis, who was nine months pregnant, and her spouse, Easton Chambers, were shot dead by men who opened fired on a jerk centre located at Maroon Town in St James. Two other persons, 74-year-old Alvin Reid and Ashmarie Plummer, were also shot and killed in the same community the same night.

Days earlier, 27-year-old Kayann Lamont was shot by a police constable during a tussle in Yallahs, St Thomas after the cop tried to arrest Lamont for using expletives.

Lamont's sister Novia was shot in the shoulder and injured while another sister escaped injury after taking evasive action and the cop was restrained by his colleagues after reloading his service pistol.

The cop has been charged with Lamont's murder but cannot be charged for the murder of her unborn child as no such law exists in Jamaica.