Senator Cummings smells ‘a complicated cover-up’

The decision by Commissioner of Police Keith Miller to reinstate three police officers who were convicted of assault is, in the opinion of Daniel Cummings, the Opposition’s Member of Parliament for West Kingstown, part of “a complicated cover-up, from beginning to end.”{{more}}

Cummings expressed this view on Friday, May 20, as he spoke on the New Democratic Party’s (NDP) New Times radio programme.

Cummings, who was elected to Parliament on December 13, 2010, said as “terrible an act as he [the Commissioner] did” (to reinstate the officers), the fault is not merely with the Commissioner. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Colin Williams and the Senior Magistrate Donald Browne should also take responsibility, he said.

Cummings, who is a civil engineer by profession, said Williams should take responsibility for not charging the police officers with “the appropriate charge”, given the severity of the beating of 15-year-old Jemark Jackson, his age and the “simple act” for which he was arrested.

Explaining, Cummings said that in charging the officers, the DPP chose the charge of “assault causing bodily harm”, instead of more serious charges such as “attempted murder” or “assault causing grevious bodily harm.”

It was testified in court that on November 18, 2008, the policemen beat Jackson with a hose and slammed him on the floor while in the general office of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). Jackson was then taken to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) and placed in the Intensive Care Unit where he remained in a coma for seven days.

When the three officers, Corporal Kasankie Quow and Constables Osrick James and Hadley Ballantyne, were sentenced on February 2, 2010, Senior Magistrate Donald Browne said they were not deserving of a prison sentence.

“This magistrate would not even dream of sending you to jail, but I have to fine them,” Browne said.

The three were ordered to pay $1, 500 each in one month or spend six months in prison.

Cummings is of the view that Browne did not imprison the men because they are police officers.

“One has to wonder if a member of the public had done half a damage to a police officer, what would have been the result; first by the level of charge of the DPP and secondly by the imposition of penalty by the magistrate,” he asked.

“I am asking the question, is there a law that is different for police officers, from any other human being? Do police officers then have the right to expect leniency from the DPP (the Director of Public Prosecutions), the Commissioner of Police and the Magistracy?

“Are they a special category of people? Are we living in a police state?” Cummings asked.

“When one looks at this whole episode, and the more public officers try to excuse and recuse themselves, the more they expose, what to my mind, is a complicated cover up from beginning to end,” Cummings opined.

When the DPP, in June 2009, instructed that the men be charged, the police did not charge them until July 9, 2009, almost six weeks after DPP Colin Williams had given the instruction.

Cummings is of the view that the delay in charging the officers, and comments made at the time by Deputy Commissioner of Police Bertie Pompey were no accident.

“I submit, the difficulty the DPP had in even having the men arrested and charged, is all part of the plot. That the comment by the Deputy Commissioner of Police Pompey, that the men would be exonerated was no accident; that they were not charged appropriately … is not an accident and I don’t know why they were not jailed given the gravity of the crime and clearly what is overwhelming evidence resulting not only in a conviction, but upholding of an appeal,” the NDP Parliamentarian said.

After being on suspension for almost two years, the police officers returned to active duty on April 19, 2011.

Cummings, however, noted on Friday that the issue is not about the men being employed, as the Government has the wherewithal to find employment elsewhere for them.

“Clearly they have other qualities which can be utilized. But they have demonstrated in the most patently obvious manner, that they are totally ill-suited to be given the high level of responsibility and authority that goes with being a policeman.”

When contacted on his way to court on Monday morning, DPP Colin Williams said, “He (Cummings) doesn’t deserve a response. He’s speaking of things he doesn’t understand. Cummings has little understanding of the Law.”