A compelling case for evidence sharing

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Justice Gloria Smith, we believe, expressed the view of all well-thinking and law-abiding Jamaicans in relation to the disgraceful attempt by police Detective Sergeant Michael Sirjue to tarnish the justice system.

"The justice system is not here to be manipulated by anyone," Justice Smith said. "We can't undermine the one system that stands between the society and anarchy."

Given this country's experience of high rates of murder over the years, and the dismissal of cases due to lack of witnesses, we would not be surprised to learn that many people view Detective Sergeant Sirjue's fabrication of a witness statement against accused gangsters in a murder case as justified.

However, it cannot be overstated that an important pillar of the justice system is the investigative process, which must be conducted with honesty and professionalism in order to stand the integrity test.

So, despite whatever frustration Detective Sergeant Sirjue may have felt, it was wrong of him to have, on his own, put together a witness statement, affixed the signature of the witness and then, after learning that the witness had been murdered, back-dated the document.

The whole sordid episode was aptly described by Justice Smith as a "very sad day" in the history of justice in Jamaica.

However, we take some amount of comfort in the fact that when Detective Sergeant Sirjue's falsehood was discovered, the justice system responded.

Before discontinuing the case, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), Ms Paula Llewellyn, informed Police Commissioner Owen Ellington, who immediately ordered that Mr Sirjue be found and arrested in order to answer charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and uttering forged documents.

Unfortunately, Detective Sergeant Sirjue has allegedly fled the island before the action could be taken.

Since then, Commissioner Ellington says the police force has contacted its overseas partners and "have furnished the requisite documents to assist in the apprehension of the detective sergeant".

Mr Ellington has also ordered a review of all cases yet to be tried in which Detective Sergeant Sirjue was the investigator or a part of the investigating team.

In addition, DPP Llewellyn has said that her office will now submit for analysis all statements in cases where the sole eyewitness is deceased.

So there is a silver lining, so to speak, in this malfeasance.

But this case has also raised the important issue of disclosure of evidence in criminal cases which, we believe, is unbalanced. For, in this jurisdiction, the prosecution is duty bound to disclose all the evidence in its possession to the defence, even if that evidence will hurt the Crown's case. The same, though, does not apply to the defence, as obtains in other Commonwealth jurisdictions.

That absence of reciprocity, we hold, contributed to Detective Sergeant Sirjue being able to leave Jamaica before being arrested, as the defence attorneys had incontrovertible evidence of his fabrication but said nothing until they got to open court.

This, we believe, is an issue that our legislators need to address as quickly as possible. Justice demands it.

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COMMENTS (14)

Norman Lee
2/10/2012

@wanda, perhaps you could give some reasons why you hope he will never be caught.

wanda woeman
2/7/2012

@British Deportee I am sorry if I don't see things in black and white as you do. Even the editorial says it can see why certain people would think like me, but I did qualify it to say that we cannot live like that.
I am not promoting lawlessness, because I am sure you are the only one who even bothered to read my post.

Norman Lee
2/7/2012

I would wager that 99.9% of all lawyers would not agree, for the defense, in criminal cases, to share exculpatory evidence with the crown before trial. Still, if Paula had known of this and was convinced of illegality, I am sure she would have discontinued prosecution.
A lack of civilian cooperation with the police is a factor in this disgraceful act and overzealous Sirjue went out on a limb, as may be his practice, for "justice". He and others will now understand that his action was egregious

Beresford Davidson
2/7/2012

Sergeant Michael Sirjue only manufacture what he saw his peers did successfully for years. God only knows how many voiceless victims put to lay six feet six in silence from his and his peers’ in-office misfeasance since the mid 70s. A police officer must be educated and trained to appreciate the truth from the facts and lay out as is without injecting a plan of a denouement in order to cover their wickedness or incompetence to mitigate an increase. If blood stained walls, in the environs of the poor and voiceless could talk, many of whom standing before us as leaders too, Sirjue, will flee the island. I hope Mr. Ellington take note of my posting.

Nejeeper KNG
2/7/2012

Witness intimidation is worldwide; the U.S. has the witness protection program to combat such issue. The Justice System is such an important part of our society yet the necessary reforms are slow to put in place. @Wanda W….”I hope he is never caught though.” Are you referring to Mr. Sirjue? If so; you’ve got to be kidding in what is a very serious situation.

Norman Lee
2/7/2012

The place to challenge the crown's evidence is in open court, where justice can be seen! It is the crown to prove beyond a reasonable doubt by way of evidence, guilt. When the evidence is presented, then the defence will present its "defence" by a challenge to such bogus evidence in the form of a no-case submission etc. I am glad that the Deacon is bringing back the subject of civics in schools so that the egregious act by Sirjue can be better understood. This case is the corollary to Dudus!

Norman Lee
2/7/2012

No justice system allows Sirjue to do such disgraceful act. It is the epitome of corruption! Many may believe he did the "morally" right thing but what is morally right may not be legally unacceptable in a society where one has to be proven guilty by his peers in a trial. Paula is right to review his cases. It must not be overlooked that Sirjue may have been acting out of gross incompetence and employ this illegal approach to impress his superiors. This raises the question of his work supervison

British Deportee
2/7/2012

Wanda, was it necessary to cut & paste everything that the writer said? And you can grumble all you want, but you can't have one foot on either side of the fence. In one instance you commended the authority for perusing the corrupt cop, but later on, he is admired for circumventing & eluding the laws that he had sworn to obey & enforce. Can't you see that you are inadvertently promoting lawlessness in the society? You could've escaped scrutiny if you hadn't ignored the trend developed by Sirjue.

MouthaMassy Dotcom
2/7/2012

@pancho morris--I believe that you are mistaken when it comes to how discovery works in criminal vs. civil cases. In civil cases discovery is reciprocal because only $ is at stake, but when it comes to a criminal matter to require the defence to share information that is detrimental to their client would in essence tilt the scale against the defendant. A defense attorney in a criminal matter has but one obligation, to wit, securing the right of his/her client, not to also be a hired adversary.

MouthaMassy Dotcom
2/7/2012

The proposed action of requiring reciprocity of sharing evidence btwn prosecution and defence would trample the rights of the accused. A defence attorney should NOT EVER be required to disclose information about their client to the prosecution as it would defeat the purpose of the defence attorney and would certainly force the accused to be less than candid with the attorney whom they've hired. The prosecution has the burden and should not be aided by the defence in any way!

Grey Flannel
2/7/2012

Witness intimidation is a very serious issue in Jamaica. While I would not do what detective sergeant Sirgue did, I can certainly understand his position of trying to put away these notorious hoodlums from the deadly Stone Crusher gang. These hoodlums kill with impunity because they know that sooner or later they can murder the witnesses who are like sitting ducks. The conventional way of fighting crime is Jamaica has been effective and will never be. I certainly hope that he never be captured.

wanda woeman
2/7/2012

Even more important than apprehending Detective Sirjue (important as this must be for the Justice system), is the need for murderers to be caught and punished without believing that they can go free by killing witnesses.
In a small jurisdiction like Jamaica it does present a difficulty to relocate witnesses with a new identity, (as it is so easy to do in the U.S) but a way has to be found.
We can’t continue to allow these murderers and rapists to commit their heinous acts, even in front of witnesses, secure in the knowledge that they will continue on their merry way without being punished, often because they commit more murders to prevent them being punished. This is why Det. Sirjue did what he did and why Police killings will continue.

wanda woeman
2/7/2012

The Observer hits the nail on the head when it says, “Given this country's experience of high rates of murder over the years, and the dismissal of cases due to lack of witnesses, we would not be surprised to learn that many people view Detective Sergeant Sirjue's fabrication of a witness statement against accused gangsters in a murder case as justified."
It is not easy when in your mind you know that a murderer is waking free, but for killing a witness or intimidating him, but society is right what Sirjue did can’t be condoned.
I hope he is never caught though.

pancho morris
2/7/2012

I could not agree more. When I first heard that the defense surprised the prosecution with this bit of evidence, I was stunned that in our justice since there isn't reciprocity when it comes to discovery. That is a shame. Trial by ambush, on either side, is improper and should be discarded forthwith. Our system needs to be revamped immediately.

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A compelling case for evidence sharing