The pre dawn operation that Vidal led, and the entire state of
emergency was prompted by two gang related murders over the weekend.
But, for all the furore created by this new Southside SOE, and all
those dozens of suspects detained, there have still been no arrests for
the murders.
Today, the Commissioner said they know who did it but cannot get
witnesses to speak because of gang intimidation:
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"While yes, we may know who these persons are, the difficulty is the fact
that they threaten people and witnesses are unwilling to cooperate. So,
because of that, we have not been able to bring charges against anybody,
but CIB personnel are on it, they are still interviewing people, they are
still trying to convince those persons who saw what happen to give
statements. We're hoping that when these people go away to prison, that it
will give the witnesses some divvy of comfort, that they may want to give
us more than just word of mouth in terms of what they saw."
AG: Forensics Needed To Replace Weak Witnesses
And that witness intimidation may have also played a role in
yesterday's acquittal of 23-year-old Steve Moss. He got off a gang
related murder of 31-year-old Daniel Anderson, and all because the main
witness did not show up to court for 2 consecutive days. With no
evidence directly tying Moss to the crime, the judge dismissed the
charge against him and ordered his release.
Commissioner Williams said the witnesses were threatened - while his
minister added that prosecutions have to depend more on science and
less on the human element:
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"Again the witnesses were threatened and went into hiding, we couldn't find
them and the DPP representative had to throw in his towel and this is what
I'm speaking about that it is not that, police officers are incompetent in
their investigation or the DPP office is incompetent in prosecuting, what
is failing us is the fact that these gang members continue to threaten
witnesses, which result in these witnesses not going to court and you know
the saying, no witness, no justice, so that is what they continue to prey
on."
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Minister of National Security
"We have to as well move away from the dominant human element that
exist in cases. When you look at prosecution of crime, we have to move
towards the science, we have to go on an extensive forensic and scenes
of crime approach when it comes to criminal activities so if you have
proper DNA facilities, proper ballistic, proper scenes of crime, you
don't depend on intimidated witnesses being much to get conviction."
Jules Vasquez
"This ecosystem of violence and gang dominance exist, ultimately it is
a failure of the political system to - forgive the terrible cliché, get
to the root causes of crime and when you mention science, it's the
failure of the government to put in a DNA lab which has been promised
for at least for over a decade. I'm just saying that the failures you
sight, are failures that you are at the head waters of."
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte
"Jules, I grow up in a neighbourhood right around the corner from here, I'm
no criminal. I grew up in a neighbourhood that was far more depressing than
some of the areas I hear are depressing these days. None of the police
officers who I know, who work in the department to try and fight crime, no
come from no privilege background. So, it's a situation where all of us
come from the same communities, went to the same schools, with the same
opportunities but some of us choose to be criminals. So I don't buy the
concept that well you have to be a criminal. No, you don't have to be a
criminal, I believe people choose to be criminals. Some of us need to bear
responsibility for why we end up in criminal activity, we can't always
blame some other people and say, oh we're poor, we're black, because of
politics we commit crime, I don't buy that at all. What can a government do
to make sure that you behave yourself and abide by the law? A lot of the
responsibilities are on the shoulders of the individual themselves. Growing
up we were around drugs too, we were around crime too but we chose not to
do that because that's now the way to go and as well, I had a ma and pa
that would have buss mi ass, so then there is some responsibility as well
on parents to make sure that their children are brought up right."
Jules Vasquez
"Without corporal punishment?"
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte
"No, with corporal punishment, I get lash every day, it never kill me."
Jules Vasquez
"Mr. Attorney General, but you know it is illegal?"
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte
"Listen to me, where does it say it is illegal? And if it is illegal my ma
need to go do 25 to life but mi ma mi beat me, so no police man could beat
me or no police man could shoot me."
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