RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Soldiers stand guard outside the Supreme Court where five policemen were arrested and charged on August 19, 2005 for the killing of two senior citizens in the Flankers community in St. James in October 2003.
Adrian Frater, News Editor
WESTERN BUREAU:
NEWS THAT government has agreed on a compen-sation package for the family of 66-year-old David Bacchas, who was killed in a controversial police shooting in Flankers, St. James, two years ago, is unlikely to bring closure to the distraught family.
"No amount of money can bring closure to my family, because we are still grieving," said Mr. Bacchas' widow Geneva. "We can't stop missing him. The grandchildren speak about him every day. It like they are waiting for him to come home."
Mr. Bacchas and fellow senior citizen Cecil Brown, a newspaper vendor, were killed on the morning of October 25, 2003, when the car in which they were travelling was fired on in what the police claimed was a confrontation between them-selves and gunmen.
Sixty-five-year-old Audrey Stephen, who was also a passenger in the car, suffered gunshot wounds but survived her injuries.
Following the shooting, residents of Flankers, who disputed the police's version of the incident and claimed the men were killed in cold-blood by trigger-happy policemen, staged two days of fiery protest to vent their anger. National Security Minister Peter Phillips and the then police commissioner Francis Forbes subsequently visited the families and apologised for the incident and promised the families would be provided with counselling and assistance with funeral expenses.
However, while the promise to assist with funeral expenses was kept, Mrs. Bacchas said the counselling component fell through as the authorities failed to live up to that side of the promise.
"We had people coming around and speaking to us immediately after the killing and we were quite grateful for that," said Mrs. Bacchas, the mother and grandmother of Mr. Bacchas' three children and 11 grand-children. "However, nobody has not come back to see us since the funeral and the promised counselling has not taken place."
J$7 MILLION SETTLEMENT
Mrs. Bacchas refused to comment on the adequacy or inadequacy of the reported J$7 million settlement, she insisted that her primary interest is to get her children and grandchildren to come to the realisation that fate has robbed them of someone they loved and cherished.
"All I know about the so-called settlement is what I have heard on the radio," said Mrs. Bacchas, in a reserved tone. "The lawyer would have that information but I have not spoken to him in quite a while."
The Sunday Gleaner's attempts to contact members of Mr. Brown's family were unsuccessful.
Residents of Flankers, who have been quite vigilante in their demands for justice have become less vocal since six policemen, involved in the incident were arrested and charged in August of last year. They await trial which is slated for later this year.
"While a monetary settlement will ease the financial burden on the two families that have loss their main bread-winners, as a community we will not be satisfied until those responsible for the killings paid for their actions," said a resident of the Flankers community. "We know that these were two decent men with no connection to criminality and we want justice for them."
