The Tribune

“Justice is served.” That was the cry of a mother as a jury at Coroner’s Court ruled that a police shooting was homicide by manslaughter.

But for justice to truly be served, the question is what comes next. The coroner’s court ruling, it must be remembered, is not a finding of criminal liability. The job of the coroner’s court is to establish the basics of what occurred surrounding a death – the coroner determines who the victim was, and the when, where and how the death occurred.

A finding of manslaughter at the coroner stage does not hold any one person responsible for what took place, nor will any one person face any legal penalties as a result of this outcome.

The next stage is criminal prosecution – which may or may not happen depending on the ruling from the coroner court.

This case involves the shootings of Richard “Buddy” Bastian and Harold “Kevin” Brown, who were killed on December 2, 2017, at about 1am on Tonique Williams-Darling Highway.

The jury decided after evidence that included video footage showing police firing their weapons at two men fleeing a bar. Some footage showed muzzle flashes from the officers, but no muzzle flashes from the direction of the men. Other testimony disputed statements by officers that the men had fired at police.

The outcome was that the jury decided this was a case of homicide by manslaughter.

So what is the next step?

Well, it is not just those involved in this case who might be asking that question.

This is the fourth finding of homicide by manslaughter in the past year – but there has been little sign of progress towards any criminal case.

It should be noted that a criminal case has two possible outcomes – guilty or not guilty. Clearing the name of the accused can be as important as convicting the guilty.

For the families of those involved in such cases, justice is not truly done until the outcome of any criminal case. If manslaughter has taken place, then someone ought to be held to account.

It should, in fact, be treated just the same as any other case of manslaughter.

In a separate story today, you will read of the case of Azario Major, whose shooting by police was also ruled homicide by manslaughter in a coroner’s court case last year.

The officers in that case are seeking to appeal that ruling. The marshal of the Coroner’s Court yesterday opposed that appeal bid, saying that no evidence had been presented to suggest the coroner was not impartial or that the jury was coerced into their finding, and that the officers’ attorney had not given specific reasons for quashing the finding.

The family involved, meanwhile, sit and wait for the outcome, and prosecutors have not instigated criminal proceedings as yet.

In that case, the acting Director of Public Prosecutions has said she will not decide on the matter until the various appeal attempts end.

And so we end up in a situation where justice is so far not upheld or denied, but is on hold.

We do not yet know if anyone will be held to account at the criminal level for these shootings – just as we do not know if anyone will have their name cleared at the criminal courts.

We are left reflecting on the truism that justice delayed is justice denied. And that is the case for both parties. The families of those shot dead, and the officers who may find themselves accused but remain in limbo without the opportunity to walk away with their name cleared.

This is a situation that helps no one – and which attracts concerns over whether all cases are treated even-handedly.

An outcome, one way or the other, is needed – but for now the wait goes on to see if an outcome will even be possible.