Dear Editor,

The archaic laws and procedures on our law books, and the “People’s Justice” in Jamaica, are different from international standards and norms.

In the recent acquittal of Sergeant Lloyd Kelly, who was charged with the killing of murder suspect, Ian Lloyd, the citizens of Buckfield, St Ann, praised the acquittal, saying “Justice has been served.”

We saw what was on the video and we can make the reasonable deduction that the police officers were not in any life-threatening danger, and we could argue that Sergeant Kelly firing his weapon may be deemed as use of excessive force by most standards.

Sergeant Kelly must count his lucky stars and be thankful for the laws and procedures that we have on our law books, and also the mentality of our citizens.

The law stipulates that the person who shoots the video must turn up in court to testify to the authenticity of the video and so must the coroner who carried out the autopsy. No witness would testify against the police; the coroner left the island, and his coroner’s report was not tendered in evidence.

In keeping with the mentality of our citizens that “criminals, murderers,”teef” and gunmen fi dead”; citizens rained blows on Ian Lloyd, who was described as “a menace to the community.” Sergeant Kelly was praised by Buckfield citizens.

There is no doubt that Ian Lloyd was shot – two bullets to his body from Kelly’s gun. The question is, did the bullets from Kelly’s gun cause Lloyd’s death, or was his death a result of the blows that citizens rained on him? John Public saw the video footage and it shows what transpired before and after the suspect was shot.

The rule of law must be paramount and justice must be served to all. Citizens should not be allowed or tacitly given the approval to take the law into their own hands.

We need legislators who will correct the wrongs that pervade our justice system and our society. If nothing changes, then we all will, sooner or later, suffer the consequences of the non-action of our ‘eat a food 60’ politicians.

Authnel Reid

Authnelreid@optonline.net

Authnel_reid@merck.com