Justice? What Justice? 10 Year Old Boy Murdered, And His Killers Will Only Serve Three Years.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006Posted in: Uncategorized
It’s shit like this that makes me wonder what the fuck the judges within our judiciary system are smoking.
How does it happen that a ten year old boy can be attacked and left to bleed to death on a stairwell, and his murderers only get a measly eight years, with the understanding that they will only serve 3 years?
I still recall the smug faces of the boys who killed him as they were acquitted of this crime, the first time round. Key evidence was missed during the first trial. Evidence such as Damilola’s blood on the training shoe of one of the accused.
Whenever I hear about cases like this, I have to wonder if this would have been different if the little boy had been white, and had lived in Suburbia. Oh yes I went there.
I often compare this case to the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Ian Huntley, the sadistic bastard who killed them, is serving two life sentences, with no possibility of parole. That’s what I call justice. Why can’t Damilola have the same kind of justice?
Why couldn’t these two brothers have at least been given life sentences? Which Ejit looked at this case and surmised that this was manslaughter rather than murder?
He was stabbed in the leg with a bottle, and left to bleed to death. He was only ten years old.
Why does the judiciary system let us down time and time again? Would the presiding judges make the same rulings if this was personal to them? I think fucking not.
Bookwormom
October 11
2:04 pm
Well, as far as I’m concerned you’re right to wonder about whether or not race would’ve made a difference. In my corner of the world there are more deaths of young minorities, mainly blacks & Latinos, than there are deaths of young white kids. Who gets the most press? Usually the white kids. IMO, class makes a difference too.
Other than write letters to the media & local government & politicians, what can you do?
Devonna
October 11
3:21 pm
I’d have to agree with bookwormom on this one. I remember this issue was brought up before ~ maybe not in blogland, but there was like a 20/20 or 60 minutes special about a woman who disappeared the same time as Lacey Peterson. This woman was Latina and nobody heard about it at all, but Lacey’s story was on every broadcast. Definitely, I think race and socioeconomic class play a big part on cases like this.
It’s so sad ~ Karen. The little boy deserved justice. He deserved a chance to grow ~ a chance to live.
Dee
October 11
5:54 pm
Devonna–Actually, Lacey WAS Hispanic. She was MARRIED to a white man. In her case, and I think sometimes this matters more than race–it was her economic status.
It’s not that the press care if your black or hispanic (“What? they kill each other all the time!”) or white, cause let me tell you, the press never cared when a white guy got killed in my old neighborhoods. It’s how much money you have and how much more shocking it is when rich people get their heads blown off for “mere money”. (I have NO idea where the press learn to think from.)
I don’t know anything about English law, but California criminal law is based on the idea that the burden of proof is on the prosecutor. It sounds like they botched the case from here to Sunday, but the bottom line is asking if they can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that those boys knew a strategic cut to the leg would cause a fatality.
If they doubted they could prove it–and if they feared the defense could make enough of a case that they didn’t and make the jury believe it was intended as a maiming instead of an intentional act of murder–they they’d take either a plea-bargain or a lesser charge.
Boy, it’s depressing how I get to know this stuff.
Hugs, Karen. Law is rarely capable of true justice. We just have to let God get them.
Dee
sallahdog
October 11
6:17 pm
I agree sometimes that it has a lot more to do with the green, than black or white….
I worked in a lab when the OJ simpson case was heard. We were a very mixed bag of races in the lab, and one of the black women said that it was nice to see a black man get off… I told her that if she thought it had anything to do with his color, she was deluding herself…
It was because Oj could afford a million dollar defense…
In my neck of the woods, a poor woman disapears, the reporters dont care, but let a woman from a rich neighborhood, and watch them swarm…
L.T. Rashard
October 11
9:17 pm
I hate that the world still have to deal with racism. I agree with the fact that if it’s a minority,(be it race, creed, or religion, or sex) justice’s blind fold is off and she’s watching with her glasses on.
But God sees everything, and the person that has done this horrific act is still a monster.
L.T. Rashard
Rocio
October 11
9:27 pm
I wil have to agree with everybody who says money beat race in this! But if you take into consideration that hispanic and black are big part of the poor segment it all end up being the same!
Is davastating for us, people of the thrid world, who sometimes have the hope of you guys having it all!!! we get kind of hopeless when we see something that something like this ( that we thought only could happen here) can also happen there!!
Dawn
October 11
10:39 pm
It is truly depressing to hear this, Karen. It was so sad to hear about Damilola’s death when it happened. The boys who did it were young (12 & 11), but were hoodlums. I have not doubt that they knew that attacking someone with a broken bottle would be dangerous. And the police and CPS seemed to have screwed up again. Can you say “Stephen Lawrence”? I really hate to think that lack of a decent conviction was anything to with race, but…
Kristie (J)
October 12
4:16 am
Reading this kind of “justice” just makes one want to kick walls and howl. I don’t know if race is a factor or not – I’ve heard of similar kinds of things where race isn’t an issue at all – but tragically and so completely wrong – it might.
FerfeLaBat
October 12
9:17 pm
I don’t know any specifics but if they were aquitted previously it’s possible the DA decided to go for a lesser charge that he could prove and win to make sure they do SOME kind of time. Did no witnesses come forward? The murder of Bill Cosby’s son made international news. Race may be an issue but economics are definitely a factor.
Lori
October 13
3:29 am
That is such a shame. It breaks my heart every time I hear about cases like this, and unfortunately I hear about them far too often.
I also agree with everyone else… it has a lot to do with socioeconomic status as much as race. Unfortunately, blacks and Latinos are often in the lower socioeconomic brackets, so we lump them in with the “race” card.
The entire thing just makes me sad.
eggs
October 13
11:48 am
It would be nice to think that this kind of thing is related to socio-economic status rather than race – because we all know that socio-economic status can be changed whereas black skin stays black no matter how rich the owner gets (Michael Jackson excepted). It’s easier to think about socio-economic prejudice because we think of it as something that will naturally slip away as society becomes wealthier.
I’m glow-in-the-dark white. So’s my cousin, but he’s married to an Australian aboriginal woman. So’s my uncle, but he’s married to a Tongan woman. These are intelligent, well educated, gorgeous women. My aunt and uncle, who live in the US, are wealthy by even American standards AND YET …
The black members of my family are, very casually, treated differently than I am everywhere we go. When we front up to a ticket counter, we are not automatically seen as a family by the clerk. When we go shopping, it’s always assumed we are two seperate customers, rather than a pair shopping together; when we are in the park, my Aunt is seen as the nanny rather than the grandma. The people who do these things are not mean. They don’t see themselves as “racist”. They don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, and yet they treat us differently simply because of the colour of our skin. It is incredibly obvious to me that this casual assumption of “differenceness”, purely based on skin colour, is a very real thing.
I have no problem at all believing that this boy got a different version of justice than my own son would get, simply because of the colour of his skin. Black people do get treated differently in western society simple because of the colour of their skin. This isn’t something I get all excited about, or something I feel inclined to march up and down the streets over, but it is a very deep truth that I recognize about the world we live in. Black people are just the same as white people, but for some reason western society persists in treating them as The Other.
Desiree Erotique
October 13
1:54 pm
If this is justice we’re all screwed.
I know here in the US that cases of missing, murdered and exploited white children (especially those from upper income families) generally receive a lot more press than others, so am not surprised when the courts play the unfairness game in sentencing. This is just wrong, wrong, wrong!
My heart goes out to the family of this murdered child. And I pray the court systems will get their act together pronto!
Dee
October 13
3:24 pm
One other thing to point out is here in the US, even when race IS an issue, people don’t want to hear it anymore. So many people have used race when it isn’t an issue that it’s like the boy crying wolf. People won’t listen.
But, it’s definitely true that people respond by race. My mother is an indian, but to look at her, she’s the whitest lady on the block. (She’s a spanish throwback) Then she’s got me–and a couple of her other kids–who are dark enough to start our own race war and you’ve got some very confused folks whenever we’re together.
At least on the US West Coast, the races have become very blurred on the socioeconomic lines. There’s whites, blacks, hispanics and asians on both the rich and poor sides of each town. And we all clique up. Sure the white people are apprehensive of the black and the mexicans. The mexicans tend to lump the whites and the blacks together. Despite being married to one, I haven’t totally figured the Asians out. They don’t particularly like anyone and they have more deeply rooted prejudices against their own varied races, so we don’t even totally rate on the mistrust scale.
In the end, we’re more likely to mistrust someone for their money than for being a different race. The rich can get away with anything, so we’re sure they’re looking for a patsy or a victim. The poor don’t have anything to lose, so that makes us expendable or very, very dangerous.
I wonder if I lost my point…
Sam
October 14
12:00 pm
It’s just sad, sad, sad.