Ireland’s grisly toll of murder is getting worse – sparking fears the streets are becoming ever more dangerous for innocent citizens.
The latest crime figures, released this week, confirmed people’s worst fears, with the number of homicide victims up to 60 – an increase of 33 per cent on the previous 12 months.
A spate of knife attacks has done nothing to calm fears that crime is becoming uncontrollable on the capital’s streets.
High-profile gangland killings have also added to people’s fears and are difficult cases for gardai to crack.
The victims of organised crime gangs include Eoin O’Connor (32) and Anthony Keegan (33), whose bodies were found last May on an island in Lough Sheelin, Co Meath, after they had been shot. Other murders include the shooting of Christopher ‘Git’ Zambra, who was shot in Drimnagh, Dublin, and Stephen ‘Dougie’ Moran in Lucan, west Dublin.
The latest murder this week saw Benny Whitehouse cut down in a hail of bullets as he went on the school run in Balbriggan, north Co. Dublin.
Another high-profile gangland murder was in August, when ‘Fat’ Andy Connors was shot dead in his Saggart home in Co. Dublin.
The official figures don’t include gangsters who have gone missing and are presumed to have been murdered.
But, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Ireland is still one of the safest countries in the world.
Our murder rate, although up by a third, is 1.5 killings per 100,000 people, compared to the global average of 6.5.
Dublin’s rate is higher than the rest of Ireland at around 2.0, but even that rate pales in comparison with the world’s most dangerous cities.
Basseterre
Top of the list is Basseterre, on the island of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
This tiny Caribbean nation, with a population of just 46,000, is anything but a sun-kissed paradise – 17 murders in just a year gave the island’s capital a murder rate of 132.
In July this year three young men were shot dead in a nightclub attack.
Caracas
There’s no surprise that Caracas, in Venezuela, is considered one of the world’s most dangerous cities.
A murder rate of 122 is thanks to the gang rule in the poor barrios, where police fear to tread and murders are routine.
The government refuses to release its own statistics, but one report estimated 24,000 people were murdered in the city in 2013.
Guatemala City
Central America is the worst global region for murders and within that Guatemala City takes the title with a murder rate of 117. The country is struggling to get to grips with the end of a civil war in 1996 that lasted almost 40 years.
Underpaid and untrained cops have to deal with an average of 100 murders a week in the country.
Belize City
Belize City, capital of the former British colony, is another central American city where the government struggle to deal with rampant gang culture.
The majority of the country’s homicides take place in Belize City, where gang violence is endemic, especially on the south side, earning the city a murder rate of 105.
Tegucigalpa
The capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, has a murder rate of 102 – with 1,175 killings in 2011.
Another city, San Pedro Sula, has an even higher rate, giving Honduras the dubious title of the world’s highest national murder rate of 90.
Maseru
The city of Maseru in Lesotho, southern Africa, in blighted by grinding poverty, massive unemployment and falling wages for mining workers. Gang violence is behind the murder rate of 62.
Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa has a murder rate of 60, but most of the killings occur in just 10 of the city’s 60 police precincts.
Despite a high rate of killings, South Africa has managed to halve its murder rate since the mid-90s.
Panama City
Panama City suffered from a rise in gang culture after the U.S. invasion in the 1980s.
Murders peaked in 2009 when 800 were killed, but have been dropping since.
The city is plagued with rapes, armed robberies, muggings, purse-snatchings and kidnappings. The murder rate is 53.
San Salvador
Another Central American country overwhelmed by criminal gangs is El Salvador.
The capital city, San Salvador, has a murder rate of 52.5, but a truce between two of the largest gangs saw killings drop to just five a day last year.
Kingston
The home town of reggae legend Bob Marley, Kingston, Jamaica, can be a dangerous and chaotic place where ‘Yardie’ street gangs control drugs and territory.
With a murder rate of 50, there were 328 people murdered in Kingston in 2011, a significant drop compared to previous years.
