Police Brutality-Finally a conviction

For the first time, at least that I could remember, police men in St Vincent and the Grenadines have been convicted of brutality! The  justice system finally got it right! For years people have made complains about police brutality, even unlawful police killings and nothing came of them for the victims. Those who died, their relatives had to live with the phrase “death by misadventure.” But on last week Tuesday, three officers were found guilty in the Magistrate’s Court of causing actual bodily harm to a 15-year old Jemark Jackson.  This young man was beaten so badly he suffered from what the medical experts call “acute pulmonary edema.” According to reports in The News newspaper, the medical team at the Milton Cato Hospital had to ventilate the young man’s lungs to get oxygenation going as to protect his vital organs. He spent five days in the intensive care unit! Five days and the police men are still claiming that they never beat Jackson. But this is the state of some of the policemen we hire in St Vincent. They are just good old plain liars. What exactly happened to Jackson will remain with those policement to their grave, but at least we know that some justice has been done.

I take me hat off to DPP Colin Williams, my former Editor at The News. Colin prosecuted this case himself and for that I give him credit. Too often Police in St Vincent behave(out of ignorance) like they are above the law. Trust me, a lot of them are real ignorant. I had to deal with them as a Journalist with The News and their ignorance was laughable. I wrote at www.carifuna.com last year about my encounters with them.

Colin, I know you will not be the most popular man now for the police force, but you have to do your job and I know you will be do it without bias.

Justice for all. Let us weed out the bad eggs in the Police force who give the force and the country a bad name.

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