Chaka Demus Says Taxi Driver In Jamaica Threatened To Shoot Him
Veteran deejay Chaka Demus is counting his lucky stars while expressing concern about the levels of violence and aggression in Jamaica, after being confronted by a gun-toting taxi driver in Portmore St Catherine on Tuesday, who brought him face-to-face with death.
Chaka Demus shared two video clips on Instagram obviously distraught and disappointed with the conduct of the out-of-control taximan.
Chaka, who is one of the most jovial artists in Dancehall, captioned one post saying that based on his experience, the levels of aggression and penchant for using violence to deal with matters, need to be brought under control in Jamaica with alacrity.
“So a taxi driver in a pro box back gun pan mi yesterday inna portmore. Man a block up the entrance I toot my horn 2 times for him to move. Him jump out of the car with the gun in holster, style and threaten me to full me up a shot. A Ras was beside drive up and tell me to stay calm. Suppose the situation had escalated you would a hear seh mi get shot up this morning. Dont like what Jamaica becoming. No matter how man wrong dem want use might beat right. This place need some order,” he noted.
Still at a loss, as to how such a simple request could have triggered such a response from the taxi driver, Chaka Demus said that he was highly upset about the matter, as he could have lost his life, even though the taximan was wrong for blocking the entrance.
“Right now I vex, I really don’t love what Jamaica is becoming. No order and man no matter how Dem wrong want use might beat right. Yesterday in Portmore a taxi driver was blocking the entrance of a plaza and I blow him to come out of the way… 2 times. HIM DONT MOVE. Him come out of him vehicle and back gun on me. Seh him will load me up wid gunshot. IS A WILD WILD WEST THIS COUNTRY TURNING,” he added.
The attack is particularly ironic as Chaka Demus has, less than a month ago recorded a song titled Build Bridges, promoting unity, love and caring for each other, in the face of a divided world.
In his accompanying video of the Portmore incident, an impassioned Chaka Demus spoke about his forever love for his country, but that he was heartbroken aver the attack.
“Me is a man weh love Jamaica to my heart. Nuff place inna di world mi guh; mi tour di whole world. An mi nuh love no weh inna di world like how mi love Jamaica. Watch dis: a nuff likkle eediat ting a gwaan inna Jamaica right yah now. Yesterday mi deh a one plaza inna Portmore; drive mi car; when mi look mi si a taxi block up di driveway. Mi blow di horn; di car nuh meck no movements. Mi guh suh: ‘pibeep’. Mi si a man come outa di taxi; di driva himself (and said) ‘ray, ray, ray, ray battybwoy, come move di car an si if mi nuh full yuh up a shat!’ And back him gun,” he said.
In continuing to relay his story, Chaka Demus said the taximan shouted: “B_ttybwoy yuh waan come move it an si if mi nuh ful yuh up a shot!”
“A one likkle Ras a pass an a seh: ‘don’t seh nuttn to him, don’t seh nuttn to him’, because di Ras si seh di bwoy come outta him car wid di gun fi kill mi. Now tell me suppm; if you block up di driveway and mi a ask yuh fi jus move yuh car, das mi can pass, tell me suppm, is it right fi you come outta yuh cat wid yu gun inna yuh han a she yuh a guh ‘full mi up a shat’? Eeh?” the Tease Me artiste said.
Chaka Demus then posed a poignant question:
“Mi people what is wrong wid us?” he asked.
Chaka Demus’ enquiry leads back to studies conducted by the late eminent psychiatrist Professor Fredrick Hickling on anti-social behaviors, among them a joint one with Dr, Geoffery Walcott in 2013 titled Personality disorder in convicted Jamaican murderers, which found that 51 percent were diagnosed as having antisocial and inadequate personalities, two-thirds were illiterate or barely literate, and concluded that “antisocial personality disorder as an aetiological precursor of homicidal violence, represents a major public health problem in contemporary Jamaica”.
Professor Hickling also conducted another joint study with clinical psychologist Vanessa Paisley as far back as 2011, which revealed that not only was personality disorder is prevalent in Jamaica, but nearly one million adult Jamaicans suffer from personality disorders and the island’s high crime rate was linked to mental illnesses.
In the study titled Population Prevalence of Personality Disorder in Jamaica, which was presented at the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture in Seattle, Washington, that year, the two clinicians noted that the rate of personality disorder – approximately 40 percent – in the Jamaican population is markedly higher than the internationally identified rate of six to 15 percent.
“Extrapolating these findings to our society, there is no wonder about the high rates of murder and violence, rape, and other sexual atrocities, and crimes such as theft and praedial larceny that are crippling our society,” the two researchers noted in a joint letter to the Gleaner at the time.
Professor Hickling had also said that if the findings do not influence public policy, “then we are doomed to repeating the same mistakes of the last 100 years or since Independence”, as many of the crime strategies employed by the security forces have failed, as this scientific aspect of the crime problem has gone unaddressed.
“Introspection and legislation will not solve this problem. We will continue to fail,” Hickling had said.
In January this year, InSight Crime’s 2020 Homicide Round-Up report on Latin America and the Caribbean revealed that Jamaica had the region’s highest homicide rate at 46.5 per 100,000 people with recorded killings of 1,301 in 2020.
The report had also noted that United Nations considers any homicide rate of 10 per 100,000 citizens or above to be an “epidemic”, which effectively means Jamaica has long been in a crisis situation.