September 1, 2001
JAMAICANS UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY Dear Friends, The personnel of the commission of enquiry is now in place to hold hearings into the July killing of 27 people in Western Kingston. Once again the state tries to legitimize its violent behavior with the creation of a body which has no power to bring sanctions against anyone. In the meantime passions are cooled and the state regains a softer image. A public relations maneuver which fools no one. While we support the call by Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) for the disbandment of the Crime Management Unit (CMU) we believe that their statement didn't go far enough. Prime Minister PJ Patterson is responsible for the creation of this death squad and must ultimately be held responsible for the assassinations carried out by it. The appointment of the notorious Reneto Adams as head of this unit was the clearest indication of its purpose. The prime minister well knew among other things that Adams was implicated in the assassination of Sylvester "Punkie" Wint when he approved his appointment. (Short of seeing the actual assassination the killing was captured on tape and played on national television.) To date there is no word from the Director of Public Prosecutions about bringing charges against Adams. He expects we will just forget about it. And now that the world knows that the seven Braeton youth were assassinated by Adams and his men the prime minister hides behind "due process." Disbanding the CMU will inevitably result in its replacement by another death squad under another name since this is standard police practice sanctioned by the state. Police extrajudicial killings would not take place if this met with the disapproval of the prime minister and his government. JUAPB therefore calls upon all human rights organizations and activists to recognize that the political directorate is legally and morally responsible for the criminal behaviour of the police and we should therefore find ways to hold them accountable. Finally, we reproduce below a recent FAST (Families Against State Terrorism) newsletter which highlights one more variation in the thousands of killings committed by the police. The brazen nature of this execution demonstrates that they DO NOT expect to be prosecuted for their crimes. A chilling testimony to the immunity they receive from the state. Lloyd D'Aguilar
FAST Forward no. 5, August 22 2001 Execution of a young farmer "Please don't kill me." Andrae shouted after police gunfire was heard. With another burst of gunfire, Andre went still and silent in a pool of his blood on the floor of his bedroom. His friends in another bedroom heard him and could do nothing; they were looking into muzzles of police guns, in fear of their own lives. I learned of Andrae Morris' killing in the media but didn't realize he was my cousin till I had a call from a family member. The police story was as usual. They said they had forced open the door to Andrae's house, seen him pull a gun from his waist, been met with gunfire, returned the gunfire. When the police were shown that the front door was too heavy to be forced open and furthermore had a grill that was not forced either, they then said they had really entered through a back door. When they were shown that the back door couldn't have been forced open either, they then claimed that the back door must have been left open, and so they just walked through. The police were told that Andrae was wearing a pair of cotton boxer shorts that couldn't bear the weight of the gun in his waist. So they said Andrae was really taking the gun from a pillowcase when he confronted them at the top of the stairs. The police would have the public believe Andrae heard them trying to enter the house for 15 minutes, then waited till he faced them to extract a gun from pillowcase. Four friends of Andrae's, two men and two women, were in the house that morning when police killed him. The friends were overnighting on their way to Sumfest in Montego Bay. The police arrested them all, and the men are still in lock-up. Police said one of the men had a gun, and all four seem to have been held on gun-related charges. Their testimonies are yet to be heard, and they are very unlikely to give evidence to police investigators, out of concern for their own safety. Andrae's family has learnt that the police placed his four friends under guard while three policemen held Andrae in his room. The friends heard when they police killed Andrae in cold blood. The police then cranked up their guns at the four and threatened to kill them as well. One of the girls begged for her life as she has a small child, and the police apparently relented. The police reportedly forced the two men to lift Andrae's body down the stairs to the police jeep. Workers on the farm say they saw the police enter through the front door after they called Andrae's name five times. They couldn't see who opened the door, but the workers believe it was Andrae. The workers heard the gunshots and saw Andrae's body taken from the house. They say the police drove away and returned to use a mop to clean the trail of blood from the door to the steps of the house. By the time the workers raised an alarm, police had sealed off the house. The workers could see the police raid Andrae's fridge and drink his beer. A pathologist observed Andrae's autopsy and reports that Andrae received 1. Three gunshot wounds a. on the left side of the chest penetrating the chest cavity with internal bleeding, and exiting from the left side of the back below the shoulder. High powered rifle. b. in the upper part of the right upper arm, entering the right chest cavity, perforating the right lung and heart with massive internal bleeding and perforating the left lung before exiting form the left side of the chest.. This appears to be the fatal wound. Hand gun. c. on the right side of the abdomen above the hip, penetrating the abdomen with laceration to the intestines and internal bleeding, and exiting from the left buttock below the hip. Hand gun. No projectiles were recovered, and no gunpowder marks were evident. The wounds were all compatible with weapons fired from a distance greater than an arm's length. 2. Shrapnel blasts a. from high powered rifle with multiple lacerations on the left upper arm from the shoulder to the elbow. Multiple small lead fragments, a strip of copper casing, and a piece of glass are recovered from the wounds. b. from a high-powered rifle on the left side of the back from mid-shoulder to hip. Similar fragments are recovered from the wounds. 3. Other injuries Multiple contusions noted on the forehead and lower part of the left thigh Cause of death: multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen Mode of death: homicide Weapons involved: High powered rifle(s) and hand gun(s). Andrae was clearly executed. He would appear to have been put to lie on his left side on the floor. He received the rifle shot from the front and it exited through the back. The shots from the hand gun(s) came from the right side and exited through the left. I conclude that the bruises mean he was beaten while he was still alive, so that rules out any story of a shootout. In any event, he was supposed to be facing the police at the top of the stairs, so the shots from the side are inconsistent with that account. The rifle bullet evidently hit the floor, exploded, and filled Andrae's left arm and back with shrapnel. Andrae was 22 years old and was the model of a young farmer in St Mary, the rural parish where he lived. He produced 15,000 potatoes weekly and employed about half the people in his community. For his funeral, Monday August 19, the church was decorated with produce from his farm – papaya, ackee, coconut. One of his brothers will continue his work, and even now the potato fields are ploughed and about to be replanted. . Andrae is another of the more than 90 people killed by police since the start of this year, not including the 25 shot dead in West Kingston between July 7 and 10 this year. I feel his loss because he is my cousin, and I feel Jamaica's loss because he is an example of the terror the Jamaican state continues to inflict on citizens and in particular on its young men. Unless we control the police and stop them from killing with impunity, none of us in this country is safe. The stand we take today may protect our own (or someone else's) cousin, nephew, son or grandson tomorrow. Online newsletter of Families Against State Terrorism (FAST) Click here to return to Jamaicans United Against Police Brutality homepage. |