Today was payday for the George Street residents who were brutalized by the GSU in august of 2011. As we reported last week, Government agreed to an out of court settlement in a suit brought by 18 residents who were beaten or unlawfully detained on the night of Friday, August 26th, 2011.
The settlement for the 18 claimants is broken down as follows: 10 with medico legal forms specifying their injury got twelve thousand dollars each, and those who were unlawfully detained, five thousand dollars each.
Today, their attorney Kareem Musa says a wrong has been righted, while one resident told us it's not enough to pay for his continued pain and suffering:..
Kareem Musa - Attorney for George Street Claimants
"Today we saw a very positive end to a truly unfortunate incident, one that I believe ought never to occur in any civilize society."
Herbert Panton, Crown Counsel - Sol-Gen's Office
"In the interest of justice, it is always better to try to seek common ground rather than drag a trial out for perhaps a year or two. This has been going on for close to two years already, so it was time to put it to an end."
Daniel Ortiz
"Tell us, what is the governments' position on what happen with the GSU and members of the George Street residence?"
Herbert Panton, Crown Counsel - Sol-Gen's Office
"That question is above my pay scale, I don't know what the government's position is. I can speak as a representative for the Solicitor General and it was our considered view that the matter ought to be settled."
Daniel Ortiz
"When will that money be delivered sir?"
Herbert Panton, Crown Counsel - Sol-Gen's Office
"The cheque was delivered right after signing the draft order this morning."
Alpheus Smith, Claimant
"To be truthful, it's nice to have the money. But, I know for a fact that I am going to be in pain for the rest of my life because I am in pain every day."
Reporter
"What was the extent of your injury sir?"
Alpheus Smith, Claimant
"They (GSU) kicked me in the rib and stomp me in the back and whap me in the head with a flashlight and right now I am suffering. That day when those guys went out there and beat us - it was for no reason at all, absolutely none. I was just doing a favor doing barbeque for the guys and the police came in and just start beating people. You can't be doing things like that to people in this country. We are all humans. I don't know what they are thinking, but they need to fix their brakes because they are going to start create monsters in this country. They need to do better than what they are doing."
The money was paid with half down now, and the other half to be paid next year.
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