Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
Howard Hamilton (left), Q.C., Public Defender, strikes up a conversation with Stephen Wedderburn, president of the Rotary Club of Kingston, yesterday. Mr. Hamilton was the guest speaker at the club's weekly luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
PUBLIC DEFENDER Howard Hamilton has appealed to members of the security forces to admit to their mistakes when they kill innocent people in shoot-outs.
Mr. Hamilton made the appeal yesterday while speaking at a luncheon put on by the Rotary Club of Kingston at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston.
His call coincides with today's charging of five police constables implicated in the shooting deaths of two elderly men in Flankers, St. James, nearly two years ago.
"I appeal to the police, not the police alone, but the security forces, that when there has been a death at the hands of the security forces and it is an accident, for heaven's sake say so!" he stressed.
LONDON ADMISSION
Mr. Hamilton made a similar comparison to the recent shooting of a Brazilian man in England by London police officers who suspected him to be a terrorist bomber.
"... The next day, they announced that it was a mistake and (that) it was wrong," he said.
He pointed out that when the security forces refuse to admit to grave errors he is unable to pursue these cases for compensation because the question of liability is uncertain.
He said that if policemen admit when they are wrong, three things would arise:
Firstly, the victims, he said, would not have the stigma of being labelled as gunmen, with their families having to deal with the indignity; and, secondly, that his office can immediately get involved in the case and pursue compensation.
"Thirdly, the police will benefit from that (the admission) with their relationship with the public," Mr. Hamilton said.
Incidents of alleged police shoot-outs with gunmen are common islandwide. But the Flankers incident in 2003 where 63-year-old David Bacchas, taxi operator, and 65-year-old newspaper vendor, Cecil Brown, were killed by the police drew public outcry.
