On the 31st of July, 2010, Television Jamaica began with a warning that they were about to show a graphic video. Without more, they ran a video taken by camera phone in a village in St. Ann.
A man lays subdued on the ground. Periodically a uniformed police officer hits him with a baton. A detective subsequently shoots the man.
The report from the Constabulary Communications
Network is then read; “A man attacked the police, stabbing four of them, before being shot dead by the police.”
It is the usual reason police give as to why a citizen was executed. Unfortunately, in this case we didn’t have to suck our teeth and say; ‘A Lie”, we had just seen what happened.
The Commissioner of Police hastily called the Television Station stating that the police would be arrested and charged for murder.
The public chewed on that for the next day, then the community was contacted. The people, caught on video who had stood and watched the event.
The community was angry that the video had been released and the police charged. For, according to them, the Police had done nothing wrong. The man had murdered his girlfriend so the police should kill him.
The lawyer for the police officer was trying to put up a ‘self-defence’ argument, and no doubt, it would be successful. After all, this is Jamaica.
There is no real Rule of Law or Justice in Jamaica. There are no real human rights. There is only the mob and mob rule. Police are licenced to kill. When the kill the ‘right’ person they can always say that he attacked them and was shot and killed in ‘self-defense’.
When the kill the ‘wrong’ one there’s a protest, there are often warrants, and a trial, but nothing much comes of it. For this is Jamaica. Police are not convicted of murder in Jamaica.