Literally every case of significance in the Jamaican criminal justice system places the system itself on trial.
The incredible incompetence and inability of the system to successfully bring the most dangerous and corrupt criminals to justice is a shameful reflection of the country’s inability to govern itself.
Sadly ‚as ordinary Jamaicans still hopefully seek justice from the creaking, broken down corrupt excuse of a system they continue to be disappointed in the faith they misguidedly place in it.
In 2008 Carlos Hill the head of a pyramid scheme which operated under the name cash plus,(cash-pot) was arrested for operating a pyramid scheme.
Like the larger scams in the United States where Bernie Madoff and a phalanx of other con artistes successfully conned enough people to invest in phony schemes with promises of huge profits of up to 20% per month, Hill’s cash plus pyramid bilked gullible Jamaicans of their hard earned money.
According to local estimates Hill’s unregulated investment scheme folded with $10 billion owed to more than 40,000 investors.
Like all pyramid schemes monthly payouts are tied to the schemers ability to recruit more and more gullible people willing to part with their hard earned cash.
Like other pyramids before it Carlos Hill’s cash plus house of cards collapsed.
Nine years after Hill was finally arrested for operating his pyramid, Carlos Hill walked out of a Kingston court room a free man.
The result ?
You guessed it , the prosecution collapsed because witnesses simply refused to show up to court anymore.
That they refused to show up is a separate issue which requires vigorous debate .
Were they paid off, intimidated , or simply too tired of showing up after 9 years?
These are all reasonable questions to look at within the context of whats happening to Jamaica’s criminal justice system as we try to understand what this is doing to increase crime in our country.
Said Director of Public Prosecution Paula Llewellyn ‚“This is a demonstration of unenlightened self-interest leading to total disengagement in the process.”
Llewellyn has been critical of any other body being empowered with prosecutorial power at the same time the comfort of tenure has made Paula Llewellyn fat and lazy .Not in a physical sense but in the way she approaches her duties .
That the DPP would characterize the collapse of her case as a demonstration of unenlightened self-interest leading to total disengagement in the process,”and not a calamitous failure of the system of which she is an integral part speaks volumes about how out of touch she is with the failures which continue to pile up on her watch.
The idea of easy money is a lure which has caused many to lose their rationale .
At the time the cash plus scheme was happening several Jamaicans living here in my city here in new York State came into my place of business and told me how excited they were about the prospect of making lucrative returns on their investments.
Some told me that when they go to Jamaica their friends living at home wine and dine them , while telling them “yu money nu good dung ya suh “when it came time to pay.
My warnings generally fell on deaf ears at the time.
Many scoffed when I warned that a 20% rate of return per month was virtually impossible, in a legal investment portfolio.
Many lost their hard earned money.
I grow tired of writing about crime and the failure of Government to do the basic things to protect the nation from people like Carlos Hill on the white collar side ‚and the killers who use violence as a means to the end they desire on the other.
The idea that a case of this nature could languish in the court system for 9 years and end up this way is unconscionable, and reprehensible .
More significant is the fact that 40’000 Jamaican could lose their hard earned resources and experience this outcome.
Without giving credence to the lengthy excuses Llewellyn gave to local media as the reason for her failure to deliver justice to the over 40’000 , I once again call for smarter faster justice.
It is past time that the Legislature pass into law mechanisms which allows affidavits given to police to stand ‚even if the giver dies or no longer wishes to participate in the process.
It is not outside the scope of common sense to ensure that when cases are drawn out or victims are intimidated or killed the case against accused does not fall apart.
Other jurisdictions have moved to allow the initial report given to law enforcement to stand regardless of the stance taken by the complainant later.
The Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck has been pushing for a purge of the court dockets, under the guise it will make the system more efficient.
The fact of the matter is that the Carlos Hill case, like so many others before it, demonstrates what happens when cases are willfully dragged out .
The ultimate aim of the courts must be appropriate and timely dispensation of justice .
On both counts, in one fell swoop ‚and in one case, over 40’000 Jamaicans were victimized by the very Institution which was supposed to stand up for them .
This is a colossal failure which will disappear and no one will feel shame or disgust by it.
The justice system needs overalling , that’s one of the source of the problem why many cases don’t go anywhere . They need to find ways to expedite cases . Waiting period too long people’s gets discouraged and move on . As to Carlos Hill case , Ms. Leyin and her team.are not entirely to be blamed . Witnesses don’t turn up because they see no reason to when they realise that they would not be getting back any money . And again the length of time discourages potential witness .