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Senior Superintendent of Police Wayne Josephs, head of the Westmoreland Police Division, has revealed that in the majority of the 140 murders committed in Westmoreland during 2022, the victims were either gangsters or persons associated with criminals.

Josephs told Thursday's monthly meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation that 79 persons or 53 per cent of murder victims fell in that category.

"Out of the 140 persons that were killed, 40 or 29 per cent were directly involved in criminal [gang activities] and these [murders] were as a result of reprisals and counter reprisals and so on," he said. Josephs told councillors and representatives of several state agencies that 14 of those who had fallen victim to crime in the last 24 months were persons who were not directly involved in criminal activities, but were killed because they were associated with criminals.

"We saw where 19 persons, or 14 per cent, were criminals who may have been charged for robberies or shootings, but not necessarily related to any of the gangs," the senior police officer explained. "Five were associated with criminals and we had one who we identified that was killed because that person was related to a criminal."

According to the police's analysis of the motives for killings in the last calendar year, 25 persons or 18 per cent showed no criminal connection. Josephs theorised that those persons were merely at the wrong place when criminals were committing crimes.

"It might be as a result of a robbery gone bad and they get killed, [they] might be standing at a bus stop and there is a drive-by where somebody was trying to shoot somebody and accidentally [they] get killed. Those are not persons who were directly or indirectly involved or connected with criminal activities," he said.

Seven of the 140 murders have been labelled as domestic related, where couples engaged in a quarrel and either of the parties ended up killing the other. A motive has still not been established for 29 other murders.

The 140 murders committed in Westmoreland in 2022 was an increase of 12 murders when compared to the 128 recorded in 2021.