Nicholson
Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
INSTRUCTIONS FROM Attorney-General A.J Nicholson, that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) provide him with a report on the much-publicised Janice Allen case, have not been met and the Minister is angry.
He has chastised the DPP office for its tardiness in presenting him with a report regarding the events that went awry in the case, that was dismissed last month for lack of evidence on the part of the prosecution.
"I have told the DPP that I wish for the matter to be investigated and a report sent to the Ministry of Justice, but I am yet to receive a report," an irritated Mr. Nicholson, who is also Minister of Justice told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday. "The Police Public Complaints Authority continues to investigate the matter. Over a week ago, Commissioner Francis Forbes promised to investigate as well. However, I don't know why it is taking so long. I am very disappointed... it should be a simple matter to investigate what happened."
Efforts to get a comment from the Office of the DPP were unsuccessful as The Sunday Gleaner was informed Friday evening that, "all the senior prosecutors have already left work".
Mr. Nicholson has vowed to pursue what he dubbed an "aberration of justice" in the Janice Allen case.
"The Government abhors what happened in the Janice Allen case... the only area in which Jamaica's name has been sullied and attracted criticism from local and international groups is in the area of abuse of citizens by the Police Force. A change is coming," Minister Nicholson promised.
Janice Allen was killed in Trench Town, St. Andrew, on April 14, 2000, a few metres from her gate. At that time, the police said that she was killed during an exchange of gunfire between them and criminals in the area. However, a post- mortem, supported by eyewitness accounts of the incident, indicated that Janice was directly shot.
On March 15 this year, Constable Rohan Allen was freed of manslaughter charges after the Crown's case against him collapsed. The document which kept the record of issued guns was allegedly destroyed in a fire at the Denham Town Police Station. The only other person who could have provided the link between the gun and the policeman was the investigating officer.
However, the court was told that he was no longer in the force and was also not on the island. However, it turned out that, that information was false and the Jamaica Constabulary Force's High Command announced they would be investigating who gave that information to the court.
In a release issued worldwide on the fourth anniversary of Janice's death last week, the human rights watchdog group, Amnesty Inter-national, called "for a full investigation into how the prosecution needlessly sabotaged its own case based on wrong information".
INVESTIGATING PROCEDURES
Amnesty International maintains that the case went awry because the police had no understanding of basic investigating procedures and showed "gross dereliction of duty".
While admitting that it was unlikely that the case could be tried again, Minister Nicholson remained adamant that there has "never been a lack of willingness on the part of the state to prosecute police officers who have stepped on the wrong side of the law.
"The efficiencies and accountability that are necessary in the criminal justice system must be enhanced to the satisfaction of all Jamaicans in this legislative year. The abiding duty of the Government is to ensure that the rights of citizens are protected, and this includes how police officers are investigated, and how they are accused and charged," Minister Nicholson said.
KILLINGS
In recent weeks, a firestorm of controversy has enveloped the Police Force in the wake of the Kraal ruling that Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams and five former members of the disbanded Crime Management Unit (CMU) should face criminal charges in relation to the controversial killings of four persons at Kraal, north west Clarendon, on May 7, 2003.
This trial follows closely on the heels of the ongoing Braeton Seven trial where six policemen are now appearing in court, having been charged in connection with the murder of seven youths in a house in Braeton, St. Catherine, in March 2001. The policemen will reappear in court on May 7 which is also the date of the Kraal anniversary.
Mounting international pressure has also come in the form of a United Nations report last year which levelled a scalding review confirming that extrajudicial killings perpetrated by security and police forces were a reality in Jamaica. The report openly criticised Jamaica's human rights record.
It also called into question Jamaica's adherence to various international human rights instruments to which the country is a signatory.
The number of civilians killed by members of the security forces has been trending down over the last two years, with 113 shooting deaths in the year 2003, a sharp decline over the average of 140 killed per year during the late 1990s.
There was a high of 359 civilian deaths recorded in the year 1984 by members of the security forces.
