D.K. DuncanA 13-YEAR-old girl was shot some four years ago on April 14, 2000. The bullet came from a policeman's gun. She died. In a statement to the investigating officer from the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI), the policeman admitted firing the gun which killed Janice Allen. In May, 2000 the bullet taken from Janice's lifeless body was matched to the policeman's gun. Janice's older sister who was with her when she was shot, was able to identify the policeman who fired the shot.
The case took just under four years to reach the Circuit Court for trial. After less than one hour in the Port Antonio Court, the presiding Judge on March 15, 2004 instructed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty for lack of evidence. Approximately half of this hour was spent on empanelling the jury. The justice system in Jamaica had been exhausted. Janice's sister, Ann Marie, did not get a chance to tell her story in the circuit court. Her mother, her family and herself returned to Kingston knowing that the system had failed.
The local lobby groups Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), Families Against State Terrorism (FAST) and the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights (IJCHR) have documented many cases of past failures. The international lobby group Amnesty International (AI) was once again forced to observe and comment on another case of grave injustice in Jamaica. If nothing concrete is done, these incidents of the denial of justice will continue to increase.
JUSTICE DERAILED
An abundance of evidence was available at one time or another for the Janice Allen case to be successfully prosecuted. The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ruled in April, 2001 one year after her death that the policeman should be charged for murder. The problem is that by the time the case came before the circuit court for trial critical evidence had become unavailable, could not be found or deemed not to be legally acceptable.
The investigating officer who took the statement in which the policeman admitted firing the gun which killed Janice was overseas on sick leave and unlikely to return. He therefore could not give evidence.
The firearms register in which the issuing of the gun is recorded was reportedly burnt in a fire at the Denham Town Police Station. Prior to this, in July, 2001 during the preliminary enquiry the register was presented but the relevant pages were missing.
The police investigators did not set up an identification parade. So although the policeman was identified from the witness box in the preliminary enquiry, this was not sufficient identification for the circuit court. The presiding judge was probably legally correct. The jury followed his instructions. Justice was denied.
JUSTICE DELAYED
Janice Allen's family could not get justice because of the "glaring faults in Jamaica's investigative and prosecutorial processes that allow impunity for killings by police. --The failure to safeguard vital evidence, the failure to hold I.D. parades when police are involved, the long delays in the preliminary enquiry and the trial process which allows mysterious fires to destroy vital pieces of evidence in cases are all egregious failures of investigation by the BSI and the DPP's office" a JFJ statement concludes.
It took one year before the policeman was charged another 18 months for the Preliminary Enquiry to be completed and a further 15 months before the Circuit Court sat for one hour and dismissed the case. In the interim, threats were continuously made against the family and witnesses. Janice's brother was detained by the police for days without being charged.
From the outset in April 2000 this has been a very high-profile killing. No relevant authority in the State can successfully plead ignorance of this case. For representatives of the State to have sat by passively and allowed the wheels of justice to grind so slowly that they became corroded by incompetent investigations, unconscionable delays and the aura of corruption is an indictment on those administering its affairs. One Love, One Heart.
A dental surgeon, Dr. D.K. Duncan is a former General Secretary and Cabinet Minister in the PNP Administration of the 1970's.
