Braeton killings go to Coroner's Court

ON MAY 9 we reported that the Coroner for St. Catherine had received only a half-page report from the police Bureau of Special Investigations merely confirming the Braeton killings of March 14.

The tenor of that report was that the Coroner had not received enough on which to proceed in the wake of the police shootings which had sparked intense national feeling and wide debate.

The matter has now returned to public attention with the announcement over the weekend that the Director of Public Prosecutions had made a long awaited ruling. No detail has been disclosed about the DPP's decision that the St. Catherine Coroner's Court must hold an inquest to determine if anyone is criminally responsible for the seven deaths at Braeton.

We presume that the Coroner will now get much more than half a page.

The inquest will take place against a chequered background of performance by such judicial proceedings. In the weeks ensuing after the Braeton shootings on March 14 we cited a notorious instance of one coroner's inquest which started in June 1999 and still remains in limbo.

That case involved the Dennis family of Olympic Gardens who lost a three-year-old son in the crossfire of a police shootout with gunmen in June 1997. The proceedings have been stymied largely by the failure of police witnesses to attend court. The last aborted sitting on June 20 was postponed for the umpteenth time to August 16.

We would hope that the case of the Braeton Seven is pursued with greater efficiency to avoid the humbug which has afflicted the coroner system over the years. There is too much pain and national sentiment riding on the outcome.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.

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