Nora Parham - the 36 year old mother of eight was put to death on June 5, 1963 - accused of the murder of her husband, Ketchell Trapp. They court found, wrongly, that she had set him on fire; in Orange Walk; evidence has later shown that she was a battered woman - and that is he who lit the match which caused the fire that took his life.
History carries a stain because of her unjust death sentence - and to this day she is the only woman known to have been executed in British Honduras - slash - Belize.
So today, a historical wrong was righted in the house of Representatives when a motion to seek to move the Belize Advisory Council to advise the Governor-General, to exercise what is called the Prerogative of Mercy - to pardon Nora Parham and revoke her death sentence.
It was a rare human moment in a House Chamber that is usually just a playing field for political tribalism. Jules Vasquez was there:
Today in the House of Representatives, the sons of Nora Parham stood arm in arm - tears in their eyes as their mother was posthumously pardoned - almost 60 years after she was put to death by the state.
It was as emotional and true a moment as this chamber has ever seen, and waves of goosebumps flooded the very full galleries - as the visitors gave a standing ovation.
Everyone came to see history play out:
Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development, Families & Indigenous Peoples' Affairs
"59 years ago a grave injustice was done in the country of Belize, but we are here to shine a light, a spotlight on the issue of domestic violence and to correct in the way that we can the injustice and the stain on our history that that event caused. Let us do today what was not done by the governor Sir Peter Stallad back in 1963. It is the desire of the present government to correct the miscarriage of justice that resulted in the death by hanging of Nora Parham and bring closure to that stain pur history. Now therefore, be it resolved by the Honorable House that: 1) Nora Parham be granted a posthumos pardon and, 2) that the sentence of death by hanging imposed on Nora Parham and executed on June 5th, 1963 be revoked."
Many of Nora's descendants who have lived with that unjust stain on their name today told od their relief:
Harold Parham, Nora's Eldest
"I must say that the family feels much much better, a great relief. Whenever the general public look at this now, they will look at her with a different frame of mind. They will recognize themselves that what was done was a grave injustice."
"Well when we heard about posthumous pardon in the beginning, I shook my head. I said, but thats not what we want. What we want is exoneration of her character. Some of the statements that were made, for lack of a better word, pronounce i court that the jury used for their decision - even the jury was pretty bias, because I think if I am right, I think most of them were what we called civil servants and all of them were men and being civil servants and colonialist, they will support the system as it was at that time."
Jules Vasquez
"While she has been exonerated, you all still live with a great trauma."
Harold Parham, Nora's Eldest
"What happened was I guess in those days most of us were very young. I am the eldest, I was 15 years old and it was 15 down to 3 years old and the bad part of it was that we were shared up; 4 of us in PG, 3 in San Ignacio and one in the US."
Jules Vasquez
"To have lost your mother injustly, that has to have really hurt to know that she was dealt an injustice and she was labeled by the state as a murderer."
Harold Parham, Nora's Eldest
"We always talk about it and our children and grandchildren when they go to school, when their peers meet them and talk to them, the first thing - oh, you are grandson or granddaughter to the woman that was hang, that murdered her husband. That stings. We dont bring it up deliberately, but if it comes up, we console each other. We know what happened and we console each other and we hug each other."
Jules Vasquez
"You saw when she was being abused, sir, do you remember that as a young man?"
Harold Parham, Nora's Eldest
"Yes, I did. As a matter of fact when I was still young maybe about 7-8 years old, some nights I use to have to leave home and run to the police station to ask somebody there to come and take him out of the house."
Jules Vasquez
"And when she was on trial, none of that was taken into account. What an injustice."
Harold Parham, Nora's Eldest
"They tried to mention it, but they were..."
And today the children and grandchildren of Nora have lived to see her name vindicated in the highest House in the land - the victim both of abuse and of a colonial justice system that did not care to hear from a woman who was a victim, not a perpetrator of violence. And now the earnest hope if that real change will come out of this:
Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia
"I dont often have butterflies in my tummy, but today has indeed been very special. What is encouraging today is that we are shining the light on it in such a way that victims are feeling more comfortable to come forward, there is much more awareness, we have gender advocates in communities now supporting by our ministry and I think that with the level of awareness that this occasion will help to bring about. We would be going a step in the right direction."
The matter now goes to the senate, and, again the Belize Advisory council will be asked to advise the GG to exercise the prerogative of mercy in dispensing a pardon - also a first for Belize.
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