A judge’s decision brings smiles to the faces of many

Mar 08, 2015 Features / Columnists, My Column

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The fate of the people who killed Neesa Gopaul is still a talking point. The sentencing phase of the case attracted just about every non-governmental organization that had gathered outside the court in protest.  And when the judge handed down his sentence there was such an outpouring of emotion that I cannot remember any murder trial attracting that kind of behaviour.
As fate would have it, there was another murder trial in the nearby courtroom, but scarcely anyone was paying attention. It was as if that was a non-event.
The judge, Navindra Singh, who is now well known for his sentencing policy, did not let the nation down. The prison time he imposed on Bibi Gopaul, the dead girl’s mother and her lover, Barry Small, will be talked about for years to come. Also going to be talked about are his words to the woman. He told her that he knows that she will not live out her sentence, but he hoped that she serve it wherever she goes after she leaves this earth.
There are some things that I will take from the case. The police bungled the investigation and made a mess of evidence that they collected. That they were able to present a case to secure a conviction is credible.
Also impressive were the very young prosecutors. At the start of the trial, no one gave them much of a chance to secure a conviction, especially since they were coming up against a battery of lawyers, among whom were Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos. The closing address by the young prosecutor was nothing short of outstanding and certainly sealed the fate of the accused. She has some way to go in her job.
But there is something that I always think about. The group, Red Thread, is always opposed to the death penalty, and I wonder if the judge had sentenced the two convicts to face the hangman, whether Red Thread would have reacted in the same way. Perhaps the organization would respond that this sentence is far more severe than any death penalty, and that it satisfies the desires of a people who wish to present themselves above the ranks of barbarians.
Indeed, there was justice for Neesa Gopaul, whose grandmother broke down when she heard that her daughter would have to spend at least sixty-eight years in jail. This was a woman who was pained to lose a granddaughter and was extremely angry. But when confronted with the reality that she was going to lose her daughter as well, she was prepared to sacrifice the granddaughter who had already passed to the Great Beyond.
Reality does hit us hard. This reminded me of a case in Kitty some years ago when one brother pushed another down a flight of stairs and caused his death.  The mother was devastated and she screamed out for justice against the killer son, until someone reminded her that she had already lost one and whether she wanted to lose another.
But for all the pain, people still kill each other, often for nothing. For this year there have been already, 23 murders. That calculates to about one every two days. Something has to be wrong with the society. We were never this violent. Is it that the entire country needs training in dispute resolution?
Then again, this can only happen because many people believe that they can get away with their crime. How else can one explain the drastic increase in gun crimes during which the perpetrator unhesitatingly shoots his victim—needlessly I would say?
To compound the situation we now have before us the results of a study conducted by an international organization. One of the findings is that Guyanese trust the police less than others in any other part of the world. I find this amazing and I can hazard a guess why. It probably has to do with the almost incessant reports of people reaching out to the police and getting little or no help.
The 911 system hardly works; police often tell callers that the station is devoid of ranks and so no action can be taken. Recently there was an execution on the East Bank of Demerara. People spoke of the police being in the vicinity and allowing the shooters to escape. One complaint was that the police could have ordered a roadblock, but this did not happen.
It is this distrust that actually hampers the police from solving even more crimes. We notice that the Berbice police seem to be on top of the situation, perhaps because there are not too many escape routes. It could also be that those who are tempted to be corrupt have their rigid colleagues looking over their shoulders and therefore cannot corrupt any other.
That apart, law demands close cooperation between the police, who are the foot soldiers, and the judiciary. And here I include the magistracy. I know the police have from time to time complained that they worked their feet to the bone attempting to solve a crime and when the perpetrator is placed before the courts, he is sent on minimal bail to commit the crime again.
Indeed some people had more than six cases for the same type of crime and then again, at the end of the day they escape conviction. A man is innocent until proven guilty, and so it was that when Randy Morris who was accused of many crimes, was killed, he had a clean slate. This bothers the police. In the case of Randy Morris they undertook the role of judge, jury and executioner.
The case of Neesa Gopaul will most certainly give them that boost in spirit, if only because the killers have got the kind of sentence befitting the crime. The police would say that they need more such support.
For their part, the public would wish to see more vibrant action from the police.

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