WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2024
Dolcy D’Cruz
Passion and the desire to do anything in one’s power for love can be a deadly concoction. When reading the news about murders around the world, it is often reported about how a jilted lover took revenge or a doubtful husband killing his wife in a fit of anger. These are the same people that would have vowed to protect the very person they killed. ‘Crimes of Passion’ is journalist Gerard De Souza’s debut book that is so gripping that it is a hard to put down. Each chapter of the book is on a murder not just so violent but hard to imagine that one would go to that limit for passion.
Each chapter is beautifully written to give a sense of the time, the mindset of the society and the limited use of technology. Gerard has weaved the story around the murders by carefully researching about all the people involved in the case. He provides the background information to what led to that crucial moment when the murder took place. More than just love it is also the ego of the accused at play as they could not face dejection from what they took to be theirs. Beyond the murder, the book also follows the trials and the final judgement passed on the accused. However, one factor that stands out is the lengthy amount of time the Indian Justice system takes to punish the offenders.
What is even more attention-grabbing is that these are all true facts, as gruesome as it, that put together through court records, newspaper reports and even some interviews that were held with the accused and later reported in newspapers and magazines.
Gerard is a journalist currently working as the Goa Correspondent for Hindustan Times. With an illustrious career of 16 years, Gerard enjoys reporting and editing stories on various topics. “As a journalist, I have covered several beats including politics, environment, tourism and of course, crime. I've enjoyed doing long form stories. Writing the book of crime stories is something I enjoyed the most because it taught me so much about human nature, what goes through the minds of people in the run up to a crime and having committed the crime, the extent to which they will go to cover it up. What I've also learnt through so many years of journalism, that the best stories are those that revolve around.”
What made Gerard decide on the true crime genre for his debut book? “It is always fascinating to write about crime stories, to get to the bottom of what actually happened in the lead up to the murder. As is often the case, the true story gets lost in the noise, speculation and conjecture that surrounds the coverage of a crime when it takes place. It was my attempt to help bring out what actually happened as recounted by witnesses, prosecution evidence and the findings of the trial. Writing about true crime helps understand the work the police do, and how the criminal justice system does or does not work. Besides, crime stories have a popular appeal and attract a wide range of audiences,” explains Gerard.
Speaking about the chapter that took the longest time to be researched and completed, he says, “The chapter that was the most difficult to write was the Mutton Soup murder. The case took place in Nagarkurnool in Telangana, in which a married woman and her paramour got together to murder her husband and later try and pass her paramour as her husband. Besides being a very difficult story to wrap my head around, it was also very difficult to gather details about the crime that was committed in order to write a complete story. The witnesses were unwilling to talk and court documents were hard to come by. I had to rely on newspaper reports, police statements to the media and interviews by the family members to piece together the story.”
Going through all these cases, there are many well meditated murders. “Some people are just stupid and think they can get away by pretending nothing happened. But others have been caught despite elaborate attempts to cover up the crime. The most common aspect that the murderers tend to overlook is that, owing to their relationship and proximity to the victim, a finger of suspicion will immediately point to them. Most murders are committed by someone who is known to the victim. The false confidence is perhaps inspired by the criminals being confident that the police will believe the stories they tell to cover up the crime,” elaborates Gerard.
At the end of each chapter, he wrote about how the murderers went on with their life. However, it feels that the victim's family didn't get the justice they deserve. Is the law lenient? “The law has a very high bar for conviction built in. No person will be convicted for a crime unless the police are able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that it was indeed the accused who has committed the crime. In the case of a murder, it is the victim's family and friends that have to suffer the loss of a loved one. In a few cases, where the attacker was a powerful person, life has indeed gone on unaffected, but that's not often the case. It isn't entirely correct to say that the murderers went on with their life. A crime as heinous as a murder is a life altering experience for the attacker as well who ends up spending a long time in jail and is later unable to reintegrate into society,” says Gerard, whose reporting on the death of British teenager Scarlett Keeling and the subsequent trial earned him the state award by the Goa Union of Journalists.
Earlier in the year, ‘Crimes of Passion’ was also discussed at Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF) as Gerard spoke to fellow journalist Ashley Do Rosario about the book and how he brought these stories into the book. Gerard will be discussing the book with Nicole Suares, founder, Content Life Media on May 2 at 6 pm at Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim.
In Goa, the book is available at Broadway Bookstore, Golden Heart Emporium, Singbal Book House, Varsha Bookstall and Literarti Bookstore. Online, the book is available on Amazon and as an e-book and on Flipkart. The book is also available globally with the option of print on demand.
Gerard speaks about his plan for the future, “As of now I have no ongoing projects. However, in due course, I hope to write a book that will cover a crime in detail by speaking to the families of the victims as well as possibly to the attacker as well, to understand why he did what he did. I think it will make for an intriguing read.” To conclude, Gerard informs about what one can take from this book, “I hope readers, especially women, recognize the signs of a toxic relationship -- one in which her partner is willing to use violence to try and control a woman, control the choices she makes. Several of the crimes that I have written about in this book are a result of a man killing the woman he claimed to 'love' simply because he couldn't come to terms with the fact that she had her own choices that he didn't agree with. It doesn't take much for an everyday situation of anger, rage and passion to end up as a murder.”
