Mr. Frith Brown was moved to speak out after a 26 year old allegedly committed a spate of assaults, stole a car and led officers on a high-speed chase across the island.

Ever outspoken, the activist warned that similar acts would follow unless a concerted effort was made to rid the island of the drugs which were turning users to crime and violence.

"We're at a juncture, I think, in Bermuda's history," he said. "That high-speed horror is a horror that's been looming. I have been criticising the stalemate, the stand-off, in the black community, in the white community, and in the party political community. It's so obvious what is going on.

"There has got to be some new form, some new way, of dealing with the crime and the violence in the community that is created by drugs. The black community gets hostile when the white community infers that drug use is a black problem.

"The white community does not think it's going to touch them. It touches everyone. When somebody does what he (allegedly) did ? who drives down a road for an hour, for half-an-hour even, trying to get away? How can you get away in Bermuda? What condition could that poor soul have been in to go in and rob those old women?"

Last week, a 26-year-old male made headlines after he allegedly entered two Warwick homes armed with a machete and sexually assaulted two women. The man supposedly made his escape in a car belonging to one of the victims, and then led police on an hour-long chase which ended when the stolen vehicle crashed into a wall along North Shore Road.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with eight indictable offences ? two counts of unlawfully entering the homes of two women; two counts of assaulting the women with intent to cause grievous bodily harm; one count of serious sexual assault with a machete during which he allegedly forced a woman to perform oral sex; one count of sexual assault with a machete during which he allegedly touched the genitals of a second female; one count of robbery for allegedly stealing a woman's car, handbag and a number of other valuables; one count of unlawfully assaulting a woman.

He pleaded not guilty to two unrelated charges of assault against two men the night before the alleged attacks on the women. He will stand trial in Magistrates' Court on those charges next week.

"This cannot go on any further," Mr. Frith Brown said. "The news is filled with these idiots. I have sold one property in Bermuda ? I have three still ? I am going to sell another. I'm leaving this godforsaken place. It is so frustrating. You can see the problems. They're almost tangible.

"We're in a catch-22 situation. The leadership of the black community has got to find a new vision. The more the black activists scream ? and their screaming is justified ? the more the white racists hide their head in the sand. And we're not going to cut it in the House of Parliament where party politics creates this stand-off."

He identified part of the problem as a general reluctance by the community to take responsibility for the dilemmas of the day ? inadequate parenting and education are wrongly labelled as black and white issues instead of the social phenomena they represent.

"If these horrors are the fault of our community, we have all got to take responsibility ? people of good conscience, people of Christian beliefs.

"I put my money where my mouth is. I've been sending a black, out-of-wedlock child to school for 11 years. These young men are on a one-way trip to hell; there's no light at the end of their tunnel. In many cases these children get into drugs as disenchanted young kids in school.

"We need to spend more time looking at education in Bermuda. It is a problem. (Minister of Youth, Sport & Community Affairs) Dale Butler should be more involved. He is a professional educator and should have his Ministry combined with education."