Jan­u­ary 2020 may not be the blood­i­est in the past five years but what makes the 46 killings record­ed sig­nif­i­cant, is that even as the coun­try bade farewell to 2019, a year which record­ed the sec­ond-high­est num­ber of killings in re­cent his­to­ry, the blood­let­ting spilled over in­to 2020.

Just af­ter mid­night as many fam­i­lies were cel­e­brat­ing the start of a new decade, killers were con­tin­u­ing their ram­page.

The first vic­tim, Reynold Chi­napoo of Cal­i­for­nia, Cou­va. He was shot sev­er­al times.

While the re­al­i­ty is that in Jan­u­ary 2018 there were 61 mur­ders, Jan­u­ary 2017- 52 mur­ders, and Jan­u­ary 2016- 49 mur­ders no one can de­ny that the coun­try now feels a deep­er sense of de­spair that the crim­i­nal el­e­ment now seems to be go­ing af­ter any­one and every­one. Cit­i­zens are liv­ing in fear.

In the first week of the new year, 6 peo­ple were killed. On Jan­u­ary 5th three mem­bers of the Chu­niesingh fam­i­ly were killed at their Ari­ma home-Dami­an Chu­nis­ingh, his sis­ter Pol­ly-Ann Chu­nis­ingh, 31, and un­cle Randy Chu­nis­ingh, 55, mur­dered at their Ari­ma home. Their hands were tied and their throats slit.

On Jan­u­ary 6th, Jezelle Phillip was fa­tal­ly stabbed by a man she knew. That killing took place at the Ba­by Pre-School on George Street.

On Jan­u­ary 7th Bangladesh na­tion­al Jamil Ahmed who had moved to Trinidad seek­ing a bet­ter fu­ture was killed at his gy­ro stall in Siparia.

The list con­tin­ues

Jan­u­ary 10—Gabriel­la Du Bar­ry gunned down by a man she knew at her Av­o­cat Vil­lage, Fyz­abad home.

Jan­u­ary 10—Cass­ian Greenidge, a fruit ven­dor, of de Gannes Vil­lage, Siparia shot and killed

Jan­u­ary 11—Tracey “rat­ty” Ot­t­ley shot and killed in Windy Hill Arou­ca

Jan­u­ary 11—Has­san Mansano shot dead in Aranguez

Jan­u­ary 13—50-year-old Bri­an ‘Big­gie’ Hack­ette killed in a rob­bery in Princes Town on Sat­ur­day night.

Jan­u­ary 14—Vishal Ra­moutar AKA “Marshy” of Williams Street, Arou­ca shot and killed

Jan­u­ary 15—Dr Rudrade­va Shar­ma and Akeem Ma­rine mur­dered in Clax­on Bay; af­ter a car ac­ci­dent

Jan­u­ary 15—3 killed in Waller­field: 15-year-old Jor­dan Archibald, Dim­itri Archibald and Ny­ron Samuel, both 19 years of age.

Jan­u­ary 16—28-year-old Kevin Parkin­son who was shot 12 times in a dri­ve-by shoot­ing on Jan­u­ary 4, in Mal­abar suc­cumbs to his in­juries

Jan­u­ary 16—19-year-old Kedel Es­delle of Mal­abar shot dead

Jan­u­ary 16—Christo­pher Caleb a bar­ber from Ari­ma gunned down out­side his shop along the East­ern Main Road in Ma­tu­ri­ta

Jan­u­ary 17—Fen­wick Young shot and killed in La Hor­quet­ta

Jan­u­ary 19—37-year-old Kevon King of Bayshore East, Mara­bel­la, was shot and killed at Mon­ty Street, Mara­bel­la.

Jan­u­ary 19—31-year-old Akim Patrick Mc­Don­ald, of Old Train­line, St Mar­garet’s shot and killed

Jan­u­ary 19—Kurt Ed­wards stabbed to death at La­m­ont Street, Long­denville

Jan­u­ary 22—17-year-old Daniel “Sand­man” Dem­ber shot and killed at a mi­ni-mart along Chrissie Trace, En­ter­prise.

Jan­u­ary 23—Cuban land­lord Ken­neth Mail­lard mur­dered in Tu­na­puna

Jan­u­ary 24—50-year-old Ashram Boodram of Hi­bis­cus Dri­ve, Cu­cuhawan Trace, Debe. Dies from gun­shot wounds

Jan­u­ary 26—Mar­vin Pierre, 46 and Ja­son Fer­nan­do, 41, of Block 22, Laven­tille shot dead on Laven­tille Road

Jan­u­ary 26—86-year-old Calvin Glas­gow of Iris Lane, South­ern Main Road, Curepe killed dur­ing home in­va­sion

Jan­u­ary 27—31-year-old Naiee Singh, a Loan Of­fi­cer at Ven­ture Cred­it Union shot to death by a man she knew

Jan­u­ary 27—Ja­mal White shot dead in La Hor­quet­ta

Jan­u­ary 27—23-year-old Roger Khan shot and killed as he slept in his Ec­clesville, Rio Claro home.

Jan­u­ary 28—22-year-old Isa­iah Cox of Flamin­go Boule­vard, Mal­oney shot dead

Jan­u­ary 28—41-year-old Ja­son Cal­liste gunned down in front of his home at Cedar Grove Road, Ram­bert Vil­lage.