COVID-19 has killed many people, and some in more ways than expected. Such is reported by WUSA9 News, where a man, Ibrahim Bouaichi, was released from prison because of COVID-19 fears even with a rape charge pending, who went on to hunt down and murder his accuser before committing suicide.
Ibrahm E. Bouaichi died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound that severely hurt the man Wednesday. Police confirmed the news to WUSA9 on Saturday.
Police in Virginia say that Bouaichi, a rape suspect released from jail in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, went on to kill the woman who had accused him.
The Washington Post reports that Bouaichi was tracked down by authorities on Wednesday. But he shot himself and was in grave condition on Thursday.
Bouaichi was indicted last year on charges that included rape, strangulation and abduction. He was jailed without bond in Alexandria.
The woman testified against him in Alexandria District Court in December.
When the pandemic hit, Bouaichi’s lawyers argued that he should be freed awaiting trial because the virus endangered both inmates and their attorneys. He was released on $25,000 bond over the objections of a prosecutor. (source)
The entire case is very tragic. I am not interested in discussing (based on his name and its spelling) that this gentleman in question was likely a Muslim of Moroccan descent, but that of how his case is a reflection of how COVID-19 has affected the US.
There is no denying that while the virus has become highly politicized, the virus itself is not political because viruses, like sin, do not care who they affect but that they affect another. Now in spite of a lot of talk, it is true that COVID-19 is very dangerous and people need to use great caution. However, there is something as dangerous and more dangerous than the virus, which is what the virus can be used for.
This could be anything, but from what we have seen, most of it relates to odd political pursuits involving the advancement of nationalism, the rise of extremism, and the dividing of society for long-term eugenic purposes.
It is true that the US prison system is overcrowded, mostly because of laws that imprison people for minor, non-violent crimes better settled out through a fine similar to a traffic violation. In addition, far too often there are people released from prison who need to be in there but are released because of political reasons.
We know for a fact that about 25% of the US prison population consists of non-violent drug offenders. When I say this, I speak of people whose only crime was the consumption or sale of drugs and nothing else (no other crimes related to their offense). If one wants to empty out prisons because of COVID-19, if there is a bloc of people who one would most prefer to release, what would it be- the weed toker and the cocaine-sniffer, or the rapist?
The answer is clear- the drug people because while one can make arguments about the effects of drugs on others, the only ones directly affected by the crime are the people who took the drugs. In the case of a rapist, it is a man who used himself to violate another person. The drug addict’s greatest danger is to himself, as he can overdose and die. But the rapist is a danger to a community because he does not attack himself, but those around him.
Why he was released is a question that there is no clear answer to, but the fact is that his release and his actions following this prove the veracity of this point. If this was a serious drug user, he may have been found dead in an alley, which would be sad for him, but at least he did not hurt another person. The victim has now been abused twice- first it was the assault (which probably was true given his response to her), and now she is dead.
Whatever would have happened to this person is his own fault at this point because he was given a chance not only at freedom, but to prove his innocence. Instead, he only sealed any suspicions of his own guilt by murdering his accuser. It would have been likely that he would have been lucky if he got life in prison because given the nature of his crimes, it is things such as these which seem too often to land the perpetrator a seat onto death row. However, since he killed himself, he only escaped one judgement to likely receive another, and probably a far worse one.
This example is the danger of COVID-19. While the disease is an issue, it ultimately is the actions that people take in response to the disease that either are not thought through properly or they are done with bad intentions, and in any case there are consequences which follow that tend to be very bad for many people, and in ways that nobody thought possible. In the most manipulative and abusive sense, it is an application of the utilitarian philosophy “never let a good crisis go to waste”.
Hence this is why, while it is important to react appropriately and swiftly in dangerous or threatening situations, it must be done carefully, with good intentions, and making also proper decisions, and quickly correcting them in the case of an error, lest the unintended consequences or negative effects run out of control and take on a life of their own that requires more time to stop when it was avoidable.