Headlines:
| Mother of baby shot by police pleads for help |
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| Friday, 03 July 2009 | |
 The mother of a ten month old baby who was shot by police
in St. Ann
earlier this year is pleading for help.Jaydeen Brown told RJR News on Friday afternoon that since the incident she has not received any assistance with medical bills. Her son was shot in the armpit and his left arm. The child's father was also injured in what was said to be a botched police operation. No assistance The soft spoken and dejected 21-year-old mother explained her dilemma since the night of the incident. She says on May 20, the bullet that was lodged in her now 16 month old son's body was removed at the Bustamante Children's Hospital. According to her, the police collected the bullet and it seems the case ground to a screeching halt. Miss Brown says her son has become ill and she has no money to transport him to the hospital for treatment. She says she is unable to work as she cannot leave her son. "I need some help, no matter what it is, I need some help to take care of the baby because I cannot manage it, I do not have it. I am stressed out. Even after the surgery the doctors told me that they are not sure what damage was caused so I still can't leave him and I can't take care of him," Miss Brown said. Ms. Brown says the child's father who was also injured by a bullet that has lodged close to his spine, can offer no assistance. She says she thought the situation would have turned out differently after she sought the intervention of Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin. "He asked me if we didn't see any councilor or anybody come to us, I told him no. he said that he was going to get someone to come to us. A police lady called me from the Ocho Rios station and I told her I can't even buy pampers for the baby and he doesn't have any now. I told her that there is no one there to help me. She said the same way I used to survive before police shot my son I should do it same way," she said. Mistake On January 7 at about 9 o'clock, the Ocho Rios Police responded to a report that an armed robbery had taken place in Gayle, St. Mary. They were told that the robbers were driving a Nissan motorcar similar to the one in which Miss Brown and her family were travelling. The police intercepted the Nissan car and opened fire. It turned out it was the wrong vehicle. Miss Brown's son, his father and the driver of the car were injured. BSI mystified In the meantime, Head of the Bureau of Special Investigation, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Granville Gauze says he is mystified by Miss Brown's claim. ACP Gauze told our news centre that since the incident occurred a file has been sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for a ruling. He says a ruling was handed down and communicated to Miss Brown's lawyers. A letter informing her of the ruling was forwarded to the address she gave on the file. ACP Gauze says he also personally visited Miss Brown's son while he was at the Bustamante Children's' Hospital in January. Procedure followed He maintains that the BSI's policy of informing the victims of a police shooting or the family of the victims on the progress of a case was followed. ACP Gauze says he will be going back to the file to verify whether the ruling from the DPP was communicated to Miss Brown as well as speak to the investigating officer in the case. He declined to outline the details of the ruling itself to our reporter. |