Devon Dick
THIS IS too much. This is going on too long. It should not take the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights' recent ruling to get us to act.
It should not take Jamaicans For Justice's persistent pressure to admit that things have gone wrong in the Michael Gayle case.
The facts are there. Michael Gayle, of unsound mind, was beaten on September 21, 1999 and died on the 23rd. Our security forces killed him.
The Coroner's Court ruled in December 1999 that the security forces were culpable. The DPP ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone. There were witnesses to the event, including security personnel.
According to conversations on RJR's Beyond the Headlines, police persons took Gayle in his battered state to a police station to charge him. The names of the members of the security forces who were on duty when the killing took place are known. There was someone in charge of the operation.
It is not rocket science to charge someone. It should not be hard to even get a conviction. This is a travesty of justice that no one has been convicted much less charged with.
Furthermore, the soldiers who were responsible can easily be court-martialled. In fact, the evidence does not even have to reach the level of "reasonable doubt" to get a conviction for soldiers. And if the chief of staff of our army cannot find and deal with errant members of his staff who participated in the killing of a mentally ill civilian, he should be fired!
If none of the members of the security forces will talk about what they saw then charge all of them. Somebody will squeal or somebody will lie and can be charged with perjury. But something ought to be done and quickly.
If the Bureau of Special Investigations cannot charge someone then they need to be replaced.
The good cops within the Jamaica Constabulary Force have a vested interest in seeing that the bad cops have their day in court. The Minister of National Security, Dr. the Honourable Peter Philips must give priority attention to clear abuses in the Force such as Michael Gayle and the Flankers killing of two innocent persons.
Otherwise, we will be just like the U.S. and U.K. governments that have had their soldiers torturing people in Iraq and Cuba and God knows where else.
In fact, the Tony Blair government declared its hand in no uncertain way by wanting to use evidence gathered from torture and the Bush administration wants to legitimise torture by using the evidence discerned through torture.
Jamaica should not give any hint of comfort to torture. Jamaica does not have an oppressive regime so torture and killing innocent persons cannot be condoned. And worse, against its own son.
STATE ABUSES
If we do not deal with the Michael Gayle case then no one will be safe from state abuses. If someone of unsound mind can be beaten to death by security forces and then get away scotch free then we are in deep trouble. The security forces would be above the law. They could carry out executions, as they will. The government must act quickly and decisively not because of international pressure but because we believe in the rule of law and the protection of our citizens. Somebody must be charged and that is the bottom line.
After that, then the apology and the compensation. Michael Gayle's mother, Ms. Jenny Cameron got minimum wage compensation. What an injustice that after suffering a cruel death then compensation is calculated based on wages that were inadequate in the first place. And then the lawyer's fee was approximately half of the compensation. The government should also pay the legal costs. No mother should have to suffer what Cameron has undergone.
She who cared for her son, to have him snatched away so needlessly by persons who should be protecting her child is untold anguish.
But first charge some persons and bring them before the courts so that we can bring some closure to the case.
Rev Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church and author of 'Rebellion to Riot: the Church in Nation Building'.
