'Dons, leave the juveniles alone' - Reformed gangster dedicates life to prevent youth from taking up crime

WESTERN BUREAU:

Having obtained a pardon after being charged for murder for which he spent 24 years behind bars, including 14 years on death row, 53-year-old Lyndene Champayne now has a message for all those involved in a life of crime.

"I am a reformed gangster. I was sentenced to hang twice, but I was pardoned by the Government, and I am appealing to the gangsters and the 'shottas' on the corner to stop the crime because it does not pay," said Champayne, who is a member of the group Men with a Message.

Champayne, who hails from the community of Tower Hill in Olympic Gardens, Kingston, told Western Focus that he regrets his action, which caused him to be incarcerated. He is also convinced that more can be done by area dons to prevent today's youth from going down the same path.

GIVE YOUTH A CHANCE

"I am calling on the dons to leave the juveniles alone. Give the youth a chance to live their lives. Your circumstances do not determine your life; it is the choice you make," he declared to Western Focus during the PeaceMobile Concert in Anchovy, St James, on Sunday.

Another member of the Men With A Message group, Nicholas Miller, said he was doing everything in his power to ensure that his and other children did not make the mistakes he has made.

"They say children live what they learn, and it is because my father was a criminal why me went that way. But my son and daughter will not go through what me been through," he stated. "It was nothing normal, me running from both police and badman ... . So badness no pay."

Miller, who served time in prison for attempted murder and shooting, is now a certified electrician. He also appealed to dons to use their influence and cash to promote education.

"You have power. So if you tell a youth to go to school, he will listen because he doesn't want to get on your wrong side. So use your power wisely."

Men with a Message is a group of men who give motivational speeches and spread the message of crime prevention.

For Champayne, his dream is for some assistance to acquire a few sewing machines so that he can make a more meaningful contribution in the lives of youth by passing on knowledge of his skill as a tailor.