Justice at its finest

THE EDITOR: I couldn’t understand why there was the need to have an enquiry into the shooting death of Phillip Seerattan at the International School. I was also cynical about the haste; most enquiries take years to get off the ground (ask anybody with a relative killed while in prison) while this one was up and running within a year.

So you could imagine I was flabbergasted when I saw the headlines that the police officers involved were to be charged. Then later that day I read the articles and concluded that perhaps based on some of the specifics of what transpired, there were grounds for an investigation. Then I thought that this was the law and justice system at its finest. This was quickly followed by the realisation that the legal system only rises to stellar heights for certain sections of the population.

Let’s look at some points concerning the International School incident which we can pretty much all agree on.
1. At the time of the incident Phillip Seerattan was disturbed or not of sound mental state.
2. He was in possession of a loaded firearm.
3. He had already shot one person.
4. He was in an environment where other people could have been injured/killed.
5. Prior to this incident, the police officers had no previous contact with or knowledge of him.

Now apply the above criteria, which are all factual, to other instances where people have been fatally shot by the police. How many mentally deranged people were shot by the police for approaching them in a threatening manner with a knife, or cutlass or a piece of wood (all of which unlike a gun you need to be up close to actually harm anyone)? How many alleged criminals were killed by the police, who then showed that the person killed was in possession of a firearm? The fact is there have been several people killed by the police in the execution of their duties in circumstances that were not nearly as compelling as this. Either the person may have had a gun but not fired it, or the person may not have been an immediate threat to other people, or the police officers involved may have been prejudiced based on negative interaction with or reports on the person prior to the incident, or the person may not have had a gun at all. After many of these killings, family members or even impartial eyewitnesses make charges of excessive force or even murder yet there are no Coroner’s Inquests. What makes the Phillip Seerattan case different?

About five years ago some bandits were killed during a robbery at a store in Atlantic Plaza. To this day the father of one of those killed swears that his son was in the store as a legitimate customer (I believe some family members were outside the store in a car) and yet there has been no investigation. Again I am not saying that there may not be grounds for an investigation into what played out at the International School, but surely there have been more compelling cases that have gone un-investigated. Why is it that the letter of the law is only followed in certain cases? Why is it that the compassion of the justice system applies only to certain groups? Please indulge me a few more paragraphs to defend my allegations. Brad Boyce escapes conviction on a manslaughter charge for killing Jason Johnson at the Edge Nightclub because his learned counsel questions the qualifications of the forensic pathologist that performed the autopsy on the victim. Despite performing hundreds of autopsies prior to this and dozens since, no other murder/manslaughter accused has been able to benefit from this defence.

Last year a pregnant woman fatally stabbed her cousin during a lull in an argument that had been simmering for some hours. No charges have been brought against her to date. Now I am not trying to make trouble for people her and I am sure the woman deeply regrets her actions, but let’s flip the script here. If it were a case of one brother fatally stabbing another during a fight (not a lull in an argument), would he have been free now? Who would prevent the DPP from doing his job? To drive the inequality home further, within a week of this stabbing incident, a deaf/mute was acquitted on a manslaughter charge after fatally stabbing his brother who was drunk at the time and was beating their father. In the absence of the compassion of the justice system he only had to spend four years in jail awaiting his trial. It sure seems like the scales of justice are tipped in favour of some groups and not others. The more things change the more they remain the same.

TONY LOW
Morvant