‘No road to justice,’ says Mario Deane’s mother 10 years after his death
Closure eluding Mario Deane’s mother 10 years after his death
Published:Friday | August 9, 2024 | 12:12 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Ten years after her son, Mario Deane, was killed while in police custody at the Barnett Street Police Station in Montego Bay, St James, Mercia Fraser is stepping up her efforts to get justice for him.
Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Fraser, who staged several years of protest outside the Barnett Street Police Station on August 3, the anniversary of the date on which her son was arrested, seemingly, has resigned herself to the possibility that she may never get justice.
“I have put justice out of my mind, but at least I must get some closure. Does it look like I am going to get justice? It does not look so to me, but at least let me get some closure because it has been 10 years, and there is no road to justice,” Fraser told The Gleaner.
“I am thinking of going back to Barnett Street to stand up with my placard, and it has been a while since I did that, with all that was going on with COVID,” explained Fraser. “I am going back out there before the month is finished, and while I am not sure which date it will be as yet, we are planning it to be on August 21.
“We need justice, we need closure. We all need to hear that Mario Deane can lie in peace in his grave,” she added.
Deane died at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, in Montego Bay on August 6, 2014, three days after he was beaten at the Barnett Street lock-up, where he was jailed after the police caught him with a ganja spliff, which was illegal at that time.
Three mentally ill inmates, Damion Cargill, Marvin Orr, and Adrian Morgan, who were in the same cell as Deane, were charged in connection with his death. However, Cargill, who was deemed unfit to plea in 2017, was released into the care of his family while Orr and Morgan, who both pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2020, were ordered released by the court because they had been in custody since 2014.
Three police officers, Corporal Elaine Stewart and District Constables Juliana Clevon, and Marlon Grant, were also arrested and charged with manslaughter, misconduct in a public office, and perverting the course of justice for their alleged involvement in Deane’s death. The case against them is ongoing in the St James Circuit Court.
Fraser told The Gleaner that she and her family are frustrated with the delays in starting the trial against Stewart, Clevon, and Grant. Dating back to September 18, 2018, the trial has been put off several times for various reasons, including a lack of jurors.
“It is 10 years that this matter has dragged on in the court system, and right now, the family is just saddened that 10 years have passed by and we have not had closure. I never expected it to go on for 10 years,” said Fraser.