A brutal act where a 15-year-old allegedly stuck a blade into the neck of an elderly man, who is now fighting for his life. An incident that has shocked the community, and the man’s family and has left the people who saved the man’s life traumatised.

There was a five-year-old who witnessed a gravely injured man with a knife stuck in his neck and so did the teenagers who were at the sporting venue. What they saw will now forever be etched in the minds of these young people. Even the eyewitness who spoke to the Samoa Observer was shaken up by what happened.

Did the authorities, mainly the police and the emergency services organise trauma counselling for the people who witnessed the injured man? It may not be how things have happened in the past but this is something that is needed because that trauma will have a deep psychological impact on some.

There is no need for a specialist to do trauma counselling. The extra step of training emergency services staff to handle trauma counselling may just do the trick for now and if more is required, the Goshen Trust is always ready to help.

The alleged act itself was disturbing and horrific. Many have sat around the coffee houses or the breakfast table to discuss what transpired in that taxi leading to the attack on the man by the teenager. Methamphetamine use surely must have been the first theory that would have spun and there is a possibility that it could have been.

If it was, what happened on Friday is just a preview of the feature film. The teen was allegedly apprehended by the group of people who aided the victim in this case. According to them, the teenager was running with a bag belonging to the taxi driver. How desperate for money was this child that he resorted to stabbing a man? Yes, a child. He is still a child, not only in the eyes of the law but to society.

The people who apprehended this teenager have to be commended for their fast action but above all, not for getting violent. Luckily, good old Samoan justice was not dished out, otherwise there would be two people in the hospital. Letting the police and the courts deal with the justice aspect of this situation is the right way to go.

The teenager is still in school. This alleged criminal conduct has put a lot of things in jeopardy for this young man. The court will surely do the right thing according to the law. Let the custodians of the law deal with the matter now.

There will be family members of the injured man who will be out for blood. Violence will only beget more violence. This is the time for prayers and not doing anything that could aggravate the situation. There is a lot of anger and hopefully, the church can assist here by providing the much-needed counselling and support for the victim’s family.

A disturbing aspect that has stemmed from the situation is the use of social media. An image of the injured man with pipes attached to him for life support has been posted across various social media platforms. The comments and the likes are going off the scales. The initial post was perhaps a family member who needed to show the world and then it has been shared so many times.

By doing this, the privacy of the injured man has been violated. The ones who have shared this may not even know the man but they do know that this is a trending story and will garner hits. This act also shows a decaying aspect of society where people will not care about boundaries and laws because they cannot be held accountable.

A violent crime has been committed and this is not a good thing, not only for the victim but its impact is much wider. Violent crimes scare people out of participating in neighbourhood activities, limit business growth and prosperity, affect tourism, strain education, justice, and medical systems; and slow community progress.