Mary Francis.
Attorney-at-Law and Human Rights Activist Mary Francis who is seeking compensation for the families of four men who were killed in 2011, during “Operation Restore Confidence,” said if her request to meet with Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony is not granted, she plans to take the matter to court.
Francis had written Anthony on May 8, 2015, seeking a meeting with him to discuss this matter, but claims her letter was never acknowledged and other efforts to contact the prime minister has proven futile.
The attorney is representing the families of Allan Louisy and Kerwin Ferdinand, who were among five men killed in a police operation in Vieux Fort, Ashley Bernard who succumbed after being shot by police in Wilton’s Yard on February 13, 2011, and Dwight Henry who was allegedly killed by lawmen.
Francis told SNO that her request to the prime minister was basically to avoid the “slow justice system.”
“I am hoping at least that I get a response because I mean it’s important that we know exactly what the government intends to do about the family members that lost their loves ones in this matter. We are concerned about the killings of these people. No court has declared that it was lawful killings,” she told SNO.
While the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Victoria Charles-Clarke is still to decide on the matter, Francis said she cannot allow the issue to remain dormant. “We have to do something. It’s about governance, it’s about justice and human rights, and we have to do something as a people,” she added.
She continued: “I think it is the duty of the government to actually see how maybe, those persons can be compensated outside filing cases in the court seeking compensation.”
On March 8, 2015, Anthony in a nationwide address said that Jamaican investigators probing alleged extra judicial killings by members of the Royal St Lucia Police Force (RSPF) had found that a “blacklist or death list” existed.
Anthony also said that the investigators had found that police had staged “fake encounters” to legitimize their actions and that “all police officers involved in the unlawful killings of citizens in respect of the files reviewed must be prosecuted.”
“Further, that the weapons supposedly found on the scene of the alleged ‘extra-judicial killings’ were from sources other than the victims. The investigators say the weapons were ‘planted on the scene of the shootings’.
The investigators also advised that ‘a number of shootings were done by police officers and are listed on the murder statistic as being done by unknown assailants’.
“Revealingly, the report suggests that ‘the crime problem in St. Lucia is facilitated by corrupt politicians, government officials, business persons and the police officers.”
Francis said since the prime minister’s address, nothing has been said about the investigation.