In The DPP's Court

The major crimes unit of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force has concluded its investigations into the fatal shooting incident that occurred two weeks ago in Bouton in which the conduct of police officers at the scene came under intense scrutiny by the public.Vernon Francois yesterday confirmed the completion of investigations into that matter however, he could not say what was next to happen regarding the police officers who were under investigation.
It was on August 13, 2008 that police officers from Soufriere responded to a request made by the mother of a young man said to be mentally ill. They went to Bouton to subdue the man whom it was said was behaving badly in the area.
Accompanied by the mother the police officers went in search of the mentally challenged man but could not find him; however, they came upon his brother in a hut who, they claimed, approached them with a machete.
The police story is that the man, who was repeatedly told to put down the machete, kept advancing towards the officers … one of whom responded by shooting him, killing him instantly.
Francois at the time said that the Police Force was committed to objectively determine the facts in the matter.

Whether the facts in the matter were objectively determined by the police officers who investigated the incident are up for discussion; however, what follows next has to do with the Director of Public Prosecution.
According to Francois, after he receives the file he hands it over to the DPP who will then determine what happens, whether the matter goes into an inquest or if there is enough evidence to charge the police shooter.
It is to be hoped that the DPP acts as swiftly on this case as the police seem to have done with their investigations.
Too often cases like this one die when they reach the office of The DPP – in the sense that little or nothing is heard of them again and the public is left to wonder what happened.
One such case comes to mind where it was said an inquest was held or was supposed to be held: the 2006 case of Troy Jn. Jacques.
The amount of public interest invested in the Bouton shooting, along with the fact that the person killed was not the one the police officers went looking for on that fateful day, should be enough to galvanize the DPP’s office into giving some priority to the case so that Saint Lucians would have a sense that the justice system is taking the matter seriously.
The whole nation will be waiting to hear from the DPP on this the latest fatal shooting by the police.
(M.G.)