Attorney-at-law Arthur Holder, a former social worker turned politician, has lashed out at mothers and fathers who have failed their children, and issued a call for “rapt and urgent” attention to be given to at-risk young men.
“While the world continues to be engulfed in the phenomena of Black Lives Matter, I want to posit the view here that young men’s lives matter,” he said today as he mitigated on behalf of convicted gunman Jahzeel Akeem Ward, whose life he described as having “disturbing features”.
Ward, of No. 22 Apes Hill, Orange Hill, pleaded guilty to having an illegal weapon in his possession on January 26, 2019, while at Endeavour Main Road in his community.
He said the homemade pipe gun, which was found in the seat of his pants, was there because “these men” won’t stop coming round him.
Holder explained that the psychological, psychiatric and probation reports compiled on Ward in preparation for sentencing clearly demonstrate that he was raised in a dysfunctional family environment which has contributed significantly to why he was before the court.
Pointing to the psychological report, the legal counsel highlighted that Ward, who is in his 20s, described his upbringing and life up to the time of incarceration as one filled with hardship, illness and abuse. He told the psychologist that his parents were marginally involved in his care and his encounters were consistently negative. At his maternal home he claimed he was frequently beaten for misbehaving, called names and insulted. Ward indicated that he never received any affection while there and at his paternal home, he experienced continued emotional isolation and corporal punishment at the hands of his caregivers.
The first-time offender indicated to the expert that he felt “angry” when he reflected on the abuse he received throughout his life, and the lack of care and attention his family has shown him.
Based on that report, Holder said Ward was “intellectually and cognitively deficient”.
The attorney did not hold back, saying that Ward had been abandoned during the formative years of his development, which was a point when parents had to play a pivotal role.
“I want to be clear. Some mothers and fathers believe that you can waltz in and out of a child’s life as though it was a dance. Parenting calls for much more than that . . .
“Some mothers and fathers, I continue to stress, are not parents [and they] are quick to blame the system when their children run afoul of the law and never see it fit to look inward at themselves and acknowledge that they have played no role at all in the maturation process of their offspring. They seek to blame the school, the judicial process, the boys on the block, etcetera, but never themselves,” Holder, also a former educator stressed.
He added: “This is why we have so many of our young productive men in jail. Who do they have to model themselves after? Far too many mothers and fathers think it is okay to just copulate and get children and believe that the task of raising them should be someone else’s responsibility. Far too often they are absent when it matters most indeed . . . and then we seriously ask ourselves why our prison population is brimming over with so many young people?
“All of the above characterises the life story of young Jahzeel Ward, a victim of profound neglect, abuse and abandonment.
“We need to pay rapt and urgent attention to our young men, especially those at risk with all of the underlying problems that have characterised young Jazeel Ward.
“We need to be proactive rather than reactive. This is a young man neglected and abused, went to school [was] bullied and teased. This is a young man I, for one, cannot understand how you go to a school, leave at 16 unable to read. So, this young man has not only been failed by a family environment but also by a systemic failure in our system,” he added.
Moments before the attorney’s address, Andrew Maynard, father of the accused, apologised in the No. 2 Supreme to his son – who listened via Zoom at HMP Dodds – for failing him.
Read more of the story on Page 8.
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