Omar Anderson, Gleaner WriterTHE POLICE Federation, which represents
rank-and-file policemen and women, yesterday
welcomed the acquittal of six policemen in the famous Braeton Seven case.
Corporal Raymond Wilson, chairman of the federation, said the no-case submission upheld yesterday by High Court judge Justice Donald McIntosh vindicated the men who, he said, acted within the law.
In 2002, a jury by a majority decision, ruled in the Coroner's Court in Spanish Town that the policemen should not be held criminally liable for the death of the seven men.
SIMILAR RESULTS
"The fact that the matter has been before two properly constituted courts and there have been similar results, there must be something in favour of our members (policemen) as to why the results are similar," he told The Gleaner.
According to Corporal Wilson, the Police Federation had always maintained that the six policemen were carrying out their legal duties when the young men were killed.
However, reacting to news of the men's acquittal, a disappointed Yvonne McCalla-Sobers, convener of Families Against State Terrorism (FAST), said she would have been happier if the defence was asked to present its case.
INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIVE BODY
"I would have certainly been satisfied with that even if the result was the same," she said. She also spoke against the absence of an independent investigative body to probe the men's killings.
Yesterday, Vanita Robinson, aunt of Christopher Grant, one of the deceased, also said she was very disappointed with the outcome of the case.
"The system is corrupt from up top," she said." (The) Jamaican people (are) not getting any justice in the courthouse."
According to her, the jury should have been allowed to decide the outcome of the case.
