Dear Editor,

Shortly after a police detective was seen on a video shooting Ian ‘Ching Sing’ Lloyd while he was lying on the ground after being severely beaten, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn commented on the matter.

The DPP went to the police training school at Twickenham Park and, while addressing an audience, she reportedly said that she required live evidence, not a videotape only. Now, if the person who had videotaped the shooting came forward, what do you think would have happened to him or her?

Then, the bullet that entered Lloyd’s body disappeared, the pathologist couldn’t be found, and the videotaped evidence wasn’t admitted. These are stark reminders of the Janice Allen case where the evidence book spontaneously caught fire and so they were unable to determine whose gun shot her. The State said then that it was unable to establish a link between the M16 rifle and the policeman who fired it.

In Jamaica there is seemingly one law for the poor and underprivileged and another for the rich and influential. The rich and influential can literally get away with murder or manslaughter. This must have serious consequences for our justice system. Apart from the huge backlog of cases, the unpredictability of cases that seem open and shut to us laymen must be worrisome.

If a court of law is not necessarily a court of justice, then where do we turn? If you are shot to death in front of a worldwide audience and no one is held responsible, what else is left? If you can be killed with impunity, then which of us is safe? It is one thing to expect to be shot dead by criminals and not receive justice, but what of members of an institution sworn to protect and serve us?

In a number of developed countries throughout the world, there is a dependence on cameras to determine the perpetrators of illegal acts. These are publicly owned cameras, but the images can also be doctored, yet they are still being used to arrive at convictions without live bodies.

Without a semblance of justice then our society will crumble. If more and more persons avoid punishment because of technicalities, then more and more persons will rely on extrajudicial methods in order to get revenge.

Our justice system has to work. If we believe that pouring money into education, health and all the other ministries of Government, without emphasis on justice, will help us to fulfil Vision 2030, then we are sadly mistaken.

A just society is indeed a civilised society. Justice, as the symbolic statue represents, must be blindfolded and her scales must be balanced.

Mark Clarke

mark_clarke9@yahoo.com

Siloah, St Elizabeth