A time to unite in support

The truth of the matter is that there is never likely to be a satisfactory answer. It has emerged that the man who is suspected of murdering four members of his own family, a friend and her daughter has had mental health problems, but efforts to find deep meaning in the tragic events which unfolded so rapidly and so traumatically in Victoria Crescent will be fruitless.

The law will no doubt take its course, but, as figures including Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur, Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand, and the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Island, Monsignor Nicholas France have demonstrated, now is the time for condolences, expressions of grief and sympathy for the family and friends of those who died in such devastating circumstances.

Islanders less prominent than leading politicians or churchmen will also want to express their sense of solidarity not only with those who have suffered personal loss but also with our Polish community which, through nothing beyond malign chance, finds itself associated with the atrocity. An opportunity to make a suitable, if modest, gesture exists. Thanks to the Constable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft, a book of condolence has been opened in the Town Hall. Its pages are being filled rapidly.

Meanwhile, we should treat with contempt the absurd slurs published in certain national newspapers that have suggested that what happened on Sunday was in some way linked to the nature of Island society. Sadly, as horrors that have seemingly emerged from nowhere in other parts of the world attest, the unpredictability of life and its periodic awful consequences are part of the human condition.

Without diverting attention from a tragedy that not only led to the deaths of innocents but also to scarring which will affect this community for a long time to come, we should consider what our most senior police officers have stressed – that this is a low-crime, low-violence area where the risk of personal injury as a result of criminal activity is almost vanishingly small.