It has to be presumed that Ice Queen did not provide the bladed object that played a significant role in the death of Johnathan Darrell early Saturday morning.

Nor can it be presumed that it was the Paget fast-food facility that implored hordes of people to congregate while the act was being carried out.

What we do know is that assistance was provided to a dying man only after the fact.

But before?

There was no one to spot what might become a troublesome situation. There was no one brave enough or level-headed enough to intervene when tempers flared. There was no one on location suitably imbued with a sense of community service who might take charge. There was no one to press the pause button.

There is a simple explanation for this. At 4am, might it be possible that most of our responsible citizens are at home with their families? Asleep? Even those who might have had a bit of a night out?

At 4am, the only responsible citizens who should be out and about to make a difference are the police or those from the emergency medical services. But they were not on the scene until after the fact. Much like those who tried to help the victim.

It is not right to hold law enforcement responsible for the actions of those who, by leaving home armed with a knife or gun, are prepared for a worst-case scenario. But as preventive measures are generally taken when the police suspect warring factions may congregate at sports events or concerts, for example, so, too, should the authorities forecast trouble at the most favourite gathering places on the Island when every other public option for late-night consumption has been exhausted.

The 24/7 petrol station in Hamilton and Ice Queen are the only public locations where you can get a bite to eat at unsocial hours and where there is rise given to gathering masses — almost to the point of loitering. So they should be well fortified with a steady police presence throughout the night, especially the latter at closing time.

The untimely backdrop to this most recent case of senseless violence are the negotiations that the Bermuda Police Service are having with the police union, which revolve around enforced budgetary cuts. They, like most in these times of economic strife, are having to make ends meet. And, also like most, they are required to do more with less.

Theirs is the most unenviable bucket list, one that is so full of holes that for every five cases in which they and the Department of Public Prosecutions believe they have rid the streets of the most criminal, four slip through and back into the wild, intermingled with society.

Free to plot. Free to plan. Free to influence those young, misguided souls who are most vulnerable.

How many among those most vulnerable were on the scene at Ice Queen when the fateful blow was struck on Saturday morning?

The answer may be revealed only by the length of time it takes police investigators to unravel what, with as many as 30 witnesses reported, should take no time at all. Because the most vulnerable, those who are empathetic to the feelings of the victim’s family and claim to be friends or “brethren”, view the police as the enemy and would rather seek their own form of justice instead of allowing justice to follow a more natural course. The predicament of the police is made more difficult because those vulnerable ones who feel no sympathy for the victim or his family are in the same boat in that they have little time for the police.

But those in the majority — the law-abiding public — need the police. The police are meant to make offenders accountable for their actions, and there are many actions for which perpetrators need to be brought to book. In a country of this size, there has been far more serious crime that has led to loss of life among our young than can be considered to be acceptable. The statistics are more damning when GBH and attempted murder cases are considered.

Whenever news gets around of incidents such as Saturday’s, there is a degree of anger. But that anger is shared only by the converted; those who get the message that by killing ourselves, especially our young, we are sending the wrong message to the next generation and further delaying the healing process.

The message is not getting through to those who most need it, though; those who are out there living each day as though it may be their last.

There is not much that families can do for them, this endangered species. Familial pleas have fallen on deaf ears for many, while for others, families have become complicit in turning a blind eye to the strikingly obvious.

“He is a good boy” just does not cut it any more.