RIGHTS-JAMAICA: State Response to Police Killing Sparks Outrage

By Zadie Neufville Reprint | | Print |

Zadie Neufville

KINGSTON, Jan 11 2002 (IPS) - Human rights activists have expressed outrage over the public prosecutor’s decision to not press charges against police officers accused of killing an unarmed man at point blank range.

Director of Public Prosecutions Kent Pantry’s decision also has highlighted what critics describe as the woeful inadequacy of the justice system, in particular the Coroner’s Court, where a backlog of some 600 cases stretches back more than two years.

Amnesty International said Pantry’s decision – announced Monday – was at odds with “clear and compelling circumstantial and forensic evidence to the contrary” and an inquest verdict that those involved should be held criminally responsible.

At issue is the December 1999 killing of Patrick Genius, a 33-year- old street vendor and father of three, in the August Town section of Kingston. Eyewitnesses said several officers in civilian clothing and travelling in an unmarked car stopped Genius, who had been riding a bicycle. The victim’s hands were raised in the air when he was shot in the head at close range, they added. Pantry, however, said Monday there simply was not enough evidence to charge the police officers.

Amnesty, which has been monitoring what some have described as a deteriorating law enforcement and human rights situation here, has protested the decision and called on the government to “take immediate action to challenge impunity of those who kill, be they police or civilians”.

Amnesty said Jamaica has among the highest rates of police killings in the world – roughly 138 per year – but virtually no law enforcer has ever been brought to justice.

In addition, former government lawyer Frank Phipps has called on the radio to urge that Pantry’s office either reconsider its ruling or be taken to court for allegedly mishandling the case.

According to Phipps, Pantry confused his role and usurped the authority of the coroner to dismiss the case prematurely. Pantry denied the charge, saying the coroner had recommended prosecution of Genius’s alleged killers but failed to identify the suspects.

“I make rulings based on law and the evidence provided,” said Pantry, who invoked Section 94 of the constitution in defending his decision to discontinue the inquiry into the killing.

Pantry’s critics said his decision flew in the face of autopsy findings, including a report by an independent pathologist, that Genius was murdered. But the prosecutor said an autopsy report “cannot say someone was murdered”.

Genius’s autopsy revealed five gunshot wounds: one in each thigh, two in the back of the head (one of these a graze), and one in the left side of the head. The pathologist concluded these indicated “the likelihood of deliberate incapacitation followed by killing”.

Rights activists also faulted police for opening their investigation five months after the killing. But the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI), charged with probing all police shootings, dismissed the criticism.

“We can never take so long to initiate investigations,” said a BSI spokesman. He declined further comment.

A Caribbean researcher for Amnesty, Olivia Streeter, said shoddy investigations help to ensure that police officials walk free after committing crimes. The BSI and Justice Ministry countered that investigations are hampered by the unwillingness of witnesses to provide information.

Amnesty and the local rights group Jamaicans for Justice, citing other cases, said the Genius matter fit a pattern of delay and incomplete investigation, partly born of inadequate resources.

Jamaicans for Justice’s Suzanne Goffe said the cases expose the decay in the country’s judicial system, “one that needs to be addressed urgently”.

In addition to huge backlogs, she said, the coroner’s court has been using some of the “same jurors on-and-off for up to 10 years”. This, she added, indicates a lack of availability, or the unwillingness of many Jamaicans to serve as jurors.

Justice Ministry spokesperson Michael Cohen concurred, adding that much of the backlog is due to the unavailability of witnesses. He said the courts were trying to hire more stenographers to improve their ability to maintain records of cases and proceedings.