THE CASE of the Braeton Seven, shot dead by a police party in March 2001, has returned to public focus. The case has spawned strong emotions from local and international lobby groups targeting the judicial machinery in ways that often seemed to challenge the integrity of the legal processes.
The long-awaited ruling of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has now determined that six members of the police party involved are to face the court on charges of murder.
The DPP finally took action after a nine-month-long coroner's inquest found that no one was criminally responsible for the killings. While Coroner Lorna Errar-Gayle exercised her discretion in accepting the 6-4 majority jury verdict, in accordance with the provisions of the Coroner's Act there was still scope for intervention of the DPP in the matter on the ground of "rejection of evidence, irregularity of proceedings, insufficiency of enquiry" or other cosiderations.
We would hope that the court proceedings that will now be the next chapter of the Braeton saga are allowed to take place without the raucous lobbying that has marked its passage thus far.
The freedom to protest against perceived wrongdoing or the abuse of civil rights is acceptable in any democratic society. But the dignity and decorum of the institutions established to right those wrongs must be respected without question.
This case will come to trial in a society so recently rocked by episodes in which police behaviour has provoked severe criticism; indeed unprecedented public apologies from the Police Commissioner and the Minister of National Security after the Flankers episode underline the low regard with which the constabulary may now be regarded.
But even this should not be allowed to influence the case against the six policemen as they face the court in connection with what happened at Braeton more than two years ago.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
