JFJ 'elated' after cop charged with manslaughter for 2007 killing

Friday, February 03, 2012

RIGHTS group Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) has hailed the Coroner's Inquest verdict that a special constable be charged with manslaughter for the shooting death of Trevor Anderson along Hagley Park Road, in 2007.

However, the group has taken issue with the length of time it took for the decision to be handed down.

"While JFJ is elated at the verdict and the victory for the family, we are conscious that Trevor was killed... 58 months ago and his family still awaits final closure and justice for his death," JFJ said in a press release on Wednesday.

The inquest lasted over three-and-a-half years but in the end the jury ruled that Special Constable Dwayne Hoilette be charged. As a result of the verdict, Hoilette will eventually be tried in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston.

The police reported that Anderson was shot in March 2007 when Hoilette's gun accidentally went off, resulting from him being hit down by the car that Anderson was driving. During the inquest, that evidence was reportedly contradicted by evidence from the post-mortem and the ballistic analysis of the gun as well as accounts by eyewitnesses.

According to eyewitnesses, Anderson reportedly stopped to purchase drinks at a roadside stall when he was shot.

JFJ said Wednesday that it hoped the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) "will see this case as having high priority and deal with it expeditiously" given the "long delays to get the matter to this point".

The rights group pointed out that other families have been waiting even longer and are much further away from closure than Anderson's.

"JFJ strongly urges the relevant authorities to address these lengthy delays in the Coroner's Courts and the prosecution of policemen by the ODPP as a matter of urgency. If action is not taken expeditiously to show that all lives are equal and justice will be applied equally to all, the people will continue to lose faith in the system," the group added.