MONICA Williams dedicated more than a year of her life and over $200,000 trying to prove that her 15 year-old son, Jason Smith, was murdered by the police. And importantly, that he was no gunman.

On Thursday, a coroner’s jury ruled that members of the Special Anti Crime Task Force (SACTF) should face murder charges in connection with the teen’s death. But it is a bittersweet victory for Williams who virtually put her life on hold and demonstrated the true merits of a mother’s love.

“I don’t operate the bar and restaurant I once owned, because I used all my money on the funeral, the pathologist and the lawyers, to prove that my son was murdered and did not have a gun,” Williams told the Sunday Observer Friday.

“I spent $140,000 on the burial, excluding nine-night; $10,000 for the pathologist and about $60,000 for the lawyers,” she said. “But what hurts is that it feels like I lost him yesterday. I can’t even go to funerals now.”

The initial police report was that Jason was shot at about 8:00 pm on July 9, 2002 while the Crime Management Unit (CMU) and the SACTF were conducting operations in Spanish Town, St Catherine. The CMU was this year disbanded after another controversial operation in Crawle, Clarendon that resulted in the shooting deaths of four civilians.

Two males, the police said, who were travelling on a bicycle were acting suspiciously and when accosted by cops they pulled guns and opened fire at the lawmen. Cops said that there was an exchange of gunfire, which ended at the Redemption Ground Market at Oxford Road, and Smith was shot and injured. The teen was later pronounced dead at the Spanish Town Hospital.

But Monica Williams — who was off the island at the time — knew her son well and never believed the police version of events. Neither did residents who took to the streets in protest.

Jason, eyewitnesses told the coroner’s court during five non-consecutive days of testimony, was riding his bicycle home, on his way from the store where he had purchased his favourite snacks, when he was gunned down.

“He stopped at a stall on the corner of Bruce and Oxford roads and had his hand up, then they hit him with the gun, beat and shot him. They say he had a gun, but the only things in his bag were five banana chips and a juice,” his distraught mother told the Sunday Observer.

“The pain never leaves, we are never happy and we are now bitter.”

The 40-year-old Williams is now left with one son, Leonard, now a moody 19 year-old who is still troubled by his brother’s death at the hands of those who are sworn to protect.

“Jason and Leonard were very close, they shared the same room, and since his murder, Leonard is moody and only goes to school and nowhere else,” said Williams, the grief still clearly etched on her face.

And while Jason’s mother and brother struggle to pick up the pieces, their aim now is to see his killers face the courts. That is the next hurdle.

“On Thursday, I had to leave the courtroom because through their retelling of the story, I saw my son crying for me,” Williams said. “I hope that the director of public prosecutions (DPP) makes a quick ruling.”

Efforts to get a comment from the DPP’s office were unsuccessful up to Sunday Observer press time.

Meanwhile, Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), the civic group that helped Williams fight to clear her son’s name and which is still working with her to bring his killers to justice, has welcomed Thursday’s ruling.

It “sent a message to the police that the civilian jury did not believe their version of events and that Jason’s killing was unjustified”, said JFJ executive director, Dr Carolyn Gomes.

“JFJ urges a speedy passage for the file from the Spanish Town Coroner’s Court to the DPP’s office and early charges against the relevant officers of the Special Anti-Crime Task Force,” she added.

JFJ has long fought for stories such as Jason’s to be heard. They were also vocal in calling for thorough investigations into the killing of seven young men at Braeton, St Catherine in March 2001, as well as a probe into the security force’s 1999 killing of Michael Gayle, a mentally challenged man.

The DPP recently ruled that six members of the now-defunct Crime Management Unit should be charged in the Braeton Seven killings, and the Government last week offered compensation to Jenny Cameron, Gayle’s mother.

But, for JFJ, a lot more needs to be done to protect Jamaicans’ civil liberties.

“There is some shift in awareness, because more people understand the issues, but it is questionable whether there is a major shift. The problems of police accountability, training and investigation still persist,” said Susan Goffe, chairperson for JFJ. “Serious gaps existed in Jason’s murder investigation.”

Gomes agreed, describing the inquest into the teen’s death as being “marked with huge discrepancies in the testimonies of police witnesses and an inadequate investigation by the Bureau of Special Investigations”.

And while they wait for the DPP to rule on who is to be charged with Jason’s killing, JFJ has made additional progress in the Michael Gayle case.

According to Goffe, the international rights groups, the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR), will hear the case in February or March of next year.

“Following the petition sent to them and a long back and forth between the JFJ, the IACHR and the Jamaican Government, they have agreed to hear the case based on its merits,” said Goffe.

And while she waits for justice, Monica Williams is struggling with high blood pressure, how to reach out to a grieving son, the search for a steady job, and getting rid of the bad memories.

“The autopsy report indicates that my son was severely beaten and was either kneeling or falling when he was shot,” she said tearfully.