Andrea Downer, Features Writer

Seventy-three-year-old Gloria Daley, mother of Mark Sangster who was recently awarded approximately $13 million for wronglful imprisonment after his sentence of life imprisonment was overturned by the Privy Council. Sangster spent seven years in prison. - photo by Andrea Downer

The lusty crowing of a rooster somewhere in the backyard, momentarily drowned out Gloria Daley's words. She was a diminutive figure, possibly less than five feet tall. Tiny droplets of tears that had pooled in the corners of her eyes were almost lost in the bed of wrinkles that they sat in.

With her voice barely audible, she began to talk about how her son's seven-year imprisonment for a murder he was later absolved of, affected her.

"It affect mi very much, very much," she said. "Because when I know that him didn't do it and them lock him up for it, it really affected me; I cried night, I cried day."

Her son, Mark Sangster, who was released from prison in 2003, sat on a bench in the yard, busy repairing a fan. He and another man, Randall Dixon, were both convicted of the murder of Detective Acting Corporal Phillip Gordon, a former member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force in 1996.

According to court records, the men were allegedly among four persons who robbed a Western Union outlet at gunpoint. The policeman who was killed was one of several police officers who went to investigate reports of the robbery in progress. A shootout between the gunmen and the robbers ensued, during which the policeman was shot dead. Dixon, who was fingered as the man who pulled the trigger of the murder weapon, was sentenced to death while Sangster, who was tried as an accomplice, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

surveillance cameras

Security surveillance cameras had recorded the robbery and the murder, and the video footage would prove to be crucial evidence that led to the men's eventual release from prison.

In a recent interview with The Gleaner, Sangster maintained that he had nothing to do with the robbery or the policeman's murder and was unable to say how he became implicated in the crime.

"After the incident happened, I heard about it and I heard that police were looking for me. But mi never pay it any mind still, as mi neva know nutten 'bout di incident," he said, his tall frame folded in a chair as he reflected on the incident which took place 11 years ago.

He said the police eventually found him two days after the crime had been committed and arrested him. He said he was not hiding as he had done nothing wrong. However, he was critical of how he was processed by the police.

"They didn't even question me about my alleged involvement in the crime. I was just locked up and told that I would be put on an ID parade," he continued.

Sangster would not meet his alleged partner-in-crime until several weeks later, when the police brought a man into the lock-up in which he was being held in downtown Kingston. The police told him that this man was the person who had committed the robbery and murder with him.

"A di first mi a set eyes pon that man!" Sangster exclaimed.

destinies

He and Dixon were tried for the crimes and sentenced. Dixon was sent to Spanish Town District Prison, where the island's death row is housed, while Sangster was sent to the Tower Street Correctional Centre in downtown Kingston. While both men were incarcerated at different places, their destinies were linked as they had been jointly convicted of the same crime. So for the next seven years, attorneys for both men would be engaged in frantic efforts to free one and save the life of the other.

Nancy Anderson, legal officer at the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights, represented Sangster, while attorney-at-law Dennis Daley represented Dixon.

For Sangster, the years spent in prison still haunt him.

"I felt suicidal and cried many times. When you know you did not do anything and you a go dead inna prison, it really hit you hard. Because with life imprisonment and having to serve 25 years before I could apply for parole, is like my life finish right there so," he stated.

Being convicted as a cop killer did not make things any easier. According to Sangster, he was a marked man, even before he was sent to prison. Even though he was serving time for the crime, in line with Jamaica's informal jungle justice, he claimed police officers who were friends of the policeman who was killed, were not appeased by his life sentence. They wanted him dead too.

In a chilling first hand account of the putrid underbelly of the island's penal system which, in many ways, mirrors the society's criminal network, Sangster disclosed that several attempts were made to kill him while he was locked up.

"A hit was taken out on my life while I was in jail waiting to be sentenced. The man contracted to do the killing kept asking me who name Mark Sangster. He had no idea what I looked like. I kept putting him off and telling him that I couldn't tell him for some reason or other until one day he caught on to me. When he found out who I was, he laughed and said, 'you no easy, you realise say you coulda kill me?'," a query which Sangster pointed out was rife with irony since the man asking the question was the one with instructions to kill.

"The man had confided that he was told to give a prisoner a knife to kill me. The same day he found out who I was, I had a court appearance and I told the judge what was going on and that evening I was not returned to the lock-up. I was placed at Tower Street, a maximum security prison," Sangster revealed.

contract killings

"A lot of contract killings take place in prisons," Sangster stated. "And in most cases, the hit men are prisoners themselves. The value of a man's life in prison can be ridiculously low. You don't even have to give them money; just a ratchet knife, which is used as the weapon, and also payment for the murder. For prisoners, a ratchet knife is of more value than money. A ratchet in prison is the ultimate weapon of defense."

Sangster said through cunning and a lot of luck, he survived prison. After several appeals, the case was sent before the Privy Council, which ruled in 2002 that the conviction of both men should be quashed and the matter remitted to the Court of Appeal. The Privy Council found that the crucial evidence, the surveillance tape, with scenes from the robbery and which recorded the murder, was not used as evidence in the men's trial. When the Privy Council viewed the tape, a copy of which had been kept by the security firm that installed the cameras, they saw that neither Sangster nor Dixon was among the four men who committed the robbery and the subsequent murder of the policeman.

On September 2003, the court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Privy Council, quashed the convictions and ordered the release of the two men. They were then released.

The men have been awarded approximately $13 million each for a raft of damages including assault and battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and breach of constitutional rights. The judgement was handed down a few weeks ago. They have yet to receive any money.

While he was released from prison approximately four years ago, Sangster told The Gleaner that he still lives in the shadows. He said, now that he is out of prison, he is a prime target for those persons who still want to see him dead, even though evidence has ruled out any possibility that he could have been involved in the killing of the policeman. He said he has received several death threats since he was released.

safety

"For my own safety, I have to be hiding my identity I am not a wanted man, based on how I now live, is like I am wanted. I can't make people know who I am. My neighbours don't see me," he stated sadly.

"Everyday, even when mi a sleep, mi haffi just a listen if vehicle a stop at mi gate. Since the news that I was awarded the money, I now also fear that I might be robbed as everyone think that I got the money. Everybody see mi a beg mi money. When I was in prison, nobody no come look for me except my family, and since the news of the award, mi phone no stop ring!"

Sangster said the people who are intent on killing him have also caused him to lose two jobs since he was released from prison, as they have turned up where he worked and threatened his employers' lives. Frustrated with trying to keep a job, he is now self-employed.

At 41 years old, Sangster said his future is still uncertain. While he waits to be paid by the Government, he has been sent the very sobering message that he will never live to spend any money that he might get. He lives the life of a man who is hunted. To him, no amount of money could be adequate compensation for spending years in prison for a crime he did not commit. A seven-year stint that has also taken a toll on his now frail 73-year-old mother, who very rarely sees her son, as he cannot stay in one place for very long. He is out of prison, but he is still not home.

andrea.downer@gleanerjm.com