By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterMICHAEL HYLTON, Q.C., Solicitor-General, has recommended that there should be an out-of-court settlement in the civil suit which was filed in the Supreme Court by the mother of Michael Gayle, 26, the mentally ill man who died after he was beaten by soldiers and policemen in August 1999.
Jannie Cameron, Gayle's mother, had filed the suit after Kent Pantry, Q.C., Director of Public Prosecutions, ruled in March 2000 that no one should be charged criminally arising from the beating of Michael Gayle at a curfew barricade in Olympic Gardens, Kingston 11.
Mr. Hylton said yesterday that he had "ruled that the case should be settled and discussions with the attorneys for the estate are being initiated with a view to negotiating a settlement."
Cameron, who is administrator of her son's estate, had filed a lawsuit against the Attorney-General and the South East Regional Hospital Authority, claiming compensation arising from Gayle's death.
She is being represented by attorney-at-law David Johnson, of the law firm Piper and Samuda, and she is seeking also, exemplary damages having regard to the circumstances of Gayle's death.
"The State has complete liability for Gayle's death and damages should be substantial," Dr. Carolyn Gomes, chairman of Jamaicans For Justice, the human rights lobby group, said yesterday. She said that no one should die after three days of severe agony caused as a direct result of the State agencies which, she said, included the hospital, the soldiers and the police.
A coroner's jury had returned a verdict in December 1999 that all the military and police personnel who were on duty at the intersection of Sterling Avenue and Olympic Way, Kingston 11, on August 21, 1999 when Gayle was beaten, should be charged with manslaughter.
It was left to Mr. Pantry to make the decision.
The depositions given at a Coroner's Inquest and the files with the statements collected by the police, were sent to the DPP for him to examine them and make his ruling.
The DPP ruled in March 2000 that no one should be charged criminally with Gayle's death.
The outcome of the DPP's ruling irked
Jamaicans for Justice, a large section of the Jamaican society, and Amnesty International.
The DPP's ruling sparked demonstrations in Kingston and Montego Bay by members of JFJ and other citizens.
Following the DPP's ruling, Gayle's relatives said they would begin civil proceedings against the security forces.
Gayle died three days after he was beaten by members of the security forces at a curfew barricade in Olympic Gardens on August 21, 1999.
It was alleged that he was not properly treated while he was a patient at the Kingston Public Hospital.
An autopsy conducted by a Barbadian pathologist brought in by JFJ found that Gayle died from a ruptured stomach, an injury consistent with the charges that he was severely beaten.
