Bermuda’s growing code of silence which stops people informing on murderers risks tipping the country into mayhem if it is not stopped, Public Safety Minister David Burch has warned.

He said Police knew the likely killer of Shaki Crockwell but were powerless because the public were not helping.

He told The Royal Gazette today: “Families in their homes have to take up the mantle and decide it is their responsibility to raise their children and save this country from anarchy.”

Senator Burch was asked if he was disappointed about the response to appeals for witnesses to the murder of the 25-year-old national footballer who was shot in the neck on the Railway Trail, Devonshire on Friday night.

He said: “It falls to us in the way we raise young people why they won’t come forward and participate in this society and recognise that by their silence they are contributing to not being in a positive place.”

Meanwhile, Governor Sir John Vereker today called for murder victim Shaki Crockwell’s family and friends to do everything they can to help Police find his killer.

Sir John spoke of his shock at Mr. Crockwell’s shooting and pledged Government House’s willingness to provide outside assistance in the murder investigation.

However, he stressed the only way to crack the case was for people with information about the death to come forward.

Mr. Crockwell’s body was found by Police on the Railway Trail, Devonshire, on Friday night. He had been shot in the neck.

Witnesses’ reluctance to speak has been partly blamed for the failure to convict anyone for Bermuda’s two previous shooting murders, Shaundae Jones in 2003 and Jason Lightbourne last year.

Speaking at the swearing in of new Director of Public Prosecutions Rory Field at Government House today, Sir John said: “The Police cannot bring to justice those responsible for this and other violent crimes without help from the public.

“Successful prosecutions require more than well-founded suspicion; they require hard evidence. The assistance the Commissioner needs most at this time is not assistance from outside Bermuda; it is assistance from those within the circle of family, friends and associates surrounding those such as Shaundae Jones, Jason Lightbourne and now Shaki Crockwell, who have met tragically early deaths.”

For the full story on this plus other updates on the murder, see The Royal Gazette tomorrow.