Attorney Slams Authorities for Jailing Child Under S.O.E.

The matter of the thirteen-year-old boy who is currently incarcerated at the Wagner’s Youth Facility is making the news for yet another day. There’s been backlash against the authorities for rounding up the minor and putting him in lockdown as part of the state of emergency. Today, seasoned attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley blasted the authorities for locking down a child who has not been convicted of the allegations made against him. Furthermore, Bradley criticized the Ministry of Home Affairs for imposing the state of emergency for an event that is not a natural disaster.

 

Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney at Law

“In our wonderful country, a thirteen-year-old can be taken to the prison and presumably also, according to a legal representative for the family, it’s alleged that he also is in the hole. Man, for me it’s just becoming unacceptable that these things are going on right in front of everybody’s eyes. You could just pick up people and say yoh deh eena wa gang, goh da jail. And then when the thirty days or one month are up, we wa extend the period, man because nobody is – in the society, we should be protected by the church leaders, especially by the media who are probing and trying to get information to expose wrongdoing when it is going on. His lawyer has said to the media, and I’m sure she’s going to go to the high court and we are depending on the high court to show no mercy to those who are abusing their authority and di tek chance offa black people and poor people.”

 

Reporter

“Are you able to speak about the fact that the attorney has pointed out – that’s Leslie Mendez – that this child, he’s a minor, has not been convicted. So everything that the State is alleging all of these at this point are mere allegations of him shooting at anyone or trying to do so.”

 

Dickie Bradley

“Of course, they are allegations. Nobody’s there because they’re convicted because if you’re convicted, you wouldn’t be out here. You would either be serving time or be paying a fine. This is a frightening, ongoing development in the society. When you go back to your office, you pull out Section Twenty of the Constitution that says you can call a state of emergency where there is an earthquake, a hurricane, a flood, a war, some natural disaster that is putting all of us, maybe a section of the city, a section of the country, all of us are at risk because something of such major proportions has taken place. But you shoot three people and we’re in a state of emergency? I heard the minister responsible for social services and women and presumably children say on the news last night that after they finish do wa investigation, then they want to decide, my God, take the lee bwai outta jail right now and house him in some youth facility till you can straighten out the matter. They don’t have any empathy. They don’t have any feeling for what they are doing.”