(Eyewitness)The testimony of Dwayne Williams at the trial of those accused of the Lusignan Massacre has to chill the hearts of all individuals with even the slightest streak of humanity left in their heart. Here’s a young man, just 20 years old, who would’ve been 15 when the massacre took place, revealing he was tied up with the murderous gang since he was 10 or 11.

He confessed he wasn’t only present at the Lusignan Massacre, but also at Bartica and Lindo Creek, where in all almost 30 innocent persons – including children and women – were murdered in cold blood. The persons killed had done nothing to the “Fineman” Gang – they just happened to be in their homes or jobs troubling nobody when they were executed simply as a message they wanted to send to the government.

But we’d like to dwell somewhat on what Williams represents in Guyana. Today, a monument has been built in Buxton to all those who’d been killed as they took on the police – protectors of law and order in the country. We’d like all those who clamour for “justice” for those young men killed to listen very carefully to the story Williams related.

Williams is a type that is unfortunately very common in Guyana – as was the eponymous leader of his gang, “Fineman” Rawlins. Fed a constant stream of propaganda about being “marginalised” and “discriminated” against by the government, boys like Williams drop out of school and “regular” society and are drawn to the outlaw life. This is glamorised as providing quick money, as well as the proverbial “wine, women and song”.

There were dozens of the “child soldiers” like Williams who were openly identified with the gang and their “operations”, which invariably involved gruesome murders and tortures of the innocent – including one crippled old man. One can only imagine what these children saw and how their minds were affected. What we know from studies drawn from similar milieus, is that these child killers are invariably warped for the rest of their lives.

There should be a follow-up study of the fates of the other child soldiers from Buxton and others drawn from further afield. The “thrill” they received from the killings and other hijinks such as rapes of village girls and the use of drugs and marijuana become psychologically ingrained in them. They are in the society.

And when there are calls from some political leaders, who are defending one of the accused gang members and know intimately their mindset for “protests” to bring down the government, no one can convince us they know not what they are calling for.