Who raped the Irwin Five ?

The rape of 5 women in Irwin Point St James last year, sent shockwaves of outrage across the country for the sheer savagery of the act committed against our women including a 8 yr old.

The cops acted with dispatch and Jamaican celebrated the fact that two men were arrested and charged for the heinous act committed against these hapless women and child. We were told the men ” volunteered” DNA samples to the authorities as part of the investigation.

I was a bit concerned when I heard the men had ” volunteered” to give DNA samples, but decided to let it slide because I may have been reading too much into that, but typically “guilty” people don’t go ahead and volunteer samples just like that.

When I heard earlier this year that the DNA SAMPLES taken from the Brisset brothers had returned a negative test ie did not match the DNA SAMPLES taken from the crime scene , I shuddered, because I knew these guys were going to be freed of all charges.

Yesterday we got confirmation that the brothers were freed as the prosecution case had faltered because the single and most important “evidence” which was the DNA analysis had failed to put the men at the scene of the crime.

I waited and waited and waited, for the cry from the public, not for the brothers to be lynched, but for the Commissioner of Police to re-open the case and go and find who actually committed this viscous and brutal act, which angered the Jamaican public.

Sadly and not unexpectedly that cry from the public has not been swift and forthcoming , but again I am not too surprised. This is who we are, we are “wagonnist”, we jump and shout when everyone else is, but give us some time and the events last year have faded into history.

The fact that the brothers have been freed has not caused us to stop and think, that if it’s not them, then the real rapist, that caused us to be so outraged, is out there laughing at the police, the DPP and the General public and no doubt has committed more rapes since that one last year.

I have a number of questions for the police as I urge them to re-open this case.

1. Where are the DNA samples taken from the women being kept ie are they kept under strict and secure conditions to avoid degradation of these samples?
2. What other evidence was collected at the crime scene , did you collect hair samples, condoms, if used and other evidence that could have helped with the case?.
3. What samples were collected from each of the women involved. Rape is a up close and personal crime and women would have fought back, did you collect skin tissues from under the nails of these women, who would have kicked and scratched the son of a bitches involved in this heinous crime?
4. The women would have been dragged through the bushes and so pieces of clothing may have been torn from the culprits in the process, were any such samples collected and are they in safe keeping?
5. What actions will the cops now take to ensure the real culprits are brought to books, this is too serious a crime and too vicious for us to forget and move on. Lives have been forever destroyed and someone should pay.
6. Did the cops bow to public pressure and simple pick up these two guys. What evidence circumstantial or otherwise lead the cops to these two brothers.

 

Commonsenseja is angry and I mean very angry and outraged on how this investigation has been conducted and the subsequent outcome. I am not saying the brothers are guilty, as it could be that the cops in trying to satisfy a quick breakthrough being demanded by the public  simply used these guys as scapegoats and lazily refused to continue to investigation.

Commonsenseja is calling on the Commissioner of Police to do the following :

1. Conduct an full and wide scale review of the conduct of the investigating officers involved in this case.
2. Conduct a review of the evidence collection process and determine what went wrong and then put in place  measures to ensure such oversight never happens again.
3. Conduct a review of the circumstances leading to the arrest and subsequent charging of these brothers involved.
4. Conduct a review and  conduct of police officers at the scene of crimes. Too often I see cops who are not involved in evidence gathering stomping all over and contaminating the crime scene thus compromising the integrity of the evidence being gathered.
5. Police need to issue advisory to the public on securing and protection of crime scene  and this should indicate that persons can be arrested and charged for disturbing/contamination of  crime scenes. In addition the public should be advised that if they stumble across a crime scene they should desist from interfering , disturbing or otherwise getting involved as evidence such as DNA samples collected to put that persons at the scene of te crime thus making that person a potential suspect. In addition the police should issue an advisory guiding persons on what they should do in cases where they are the first ones at the scene of a crime.
6. The commissioner of police should issue a report on the ” Irwin five” and indicate what shortfalls were found in the investigative process and what actions were taken against the officers involved if it was found that the malicious maligned the guys who were taken into custody and any other misconduct occurred on the path of the  officers involved.

We as members of the public must seek to demand greater levels of accountability and its not just from politicians but from other members of the public sector.

This case should be used a template to bring about changes in the way we conduct police investigation with the hope that going forward, we can be able to bring justice to those who have become the victim of crimes in Jamaica.

I may be the lone wolf howling but so be it,  things must change and the public must become vociferous to ensure that changes are implemented.