Almost nine months after Cadet Officer Franz Paul was charged with shooting a teenaged boy in the mouth, no departmental charges have apparently been filed against the dozen or so ranks who were with him at the time.
While disappointed at this, his mother says that she is more concerned that her son needs help as the incident has left him traumatized and withdrawn.
Following the April 30, 2014 shooting of then 15-year-old Alex Griffith, the police had said that the investigations were focused on criminal implications as well as departmental charges. Two van loads of policemen had accompanied Paul to the East La Penitence Squatting where Griffith lived to investigate a robbery committed on his sister. Paul at the time was based at the Mahaica Police Station on the East Coast Demerara and he travelled to the city where he rounded up the ranks. Paul is still before the court on this charge.
Contacted recently, the teen’s mother Marcel Griffith said she has heard nothing about the other ranks who were involved in the shooting incident. She said she was expecting to see everyone placed before the court and not just Paul. She said she had heard nothing either about departmental charges. “Nobody ain’t telling us nothing,” she stressed while adding that not because it was Paul who allegedly pulled the trigger, he alone should be charged. She insisted that the other ranks were with the Cadet Officer at the time and as such they ought to be punished too.
In the early stages, there was talk of departmental charges being laid against the other ranks. Stabroek News attempted last week to get an update from police as it relates to this but without success.
No one could say whether charges were laid or whether all the ranks are still serving members of the force.
Though the force had made no mention of the ranks that had accompanied Paul, after repeated inquiries in the weeks after the incident this newspaper was repeatedly told that an investigation was being conducted and that everybody involved was being looked at.
While there is no word on the identity of the ranks, the newspaper had gathered that the majority of those who accompanied Paul were clad in navy blue clothing signifying that they were ranks attached to the Tactical Services Unit (TSU).
Marcel told Stabroek News, “Everybody should be punished. Not just the one who [allegedly] shoot the child that is unfair.” While expressing frustration at the pace of the court case, she said they are wasting time and money following up the court matter.
She said that she would not work herself up over the matter because she knows that “God is in charge and all is well.”
In an emotional state, she said that the incident had changed her child, as he has become withdrawn and has gotten into numerous fights both at school and in the community where he lives.
She said that about three weeks before the last school term ended while at school he was attacked by boys armed with hockey sticks. She said her son went home and was determined to represent himself and as such returned to school confront the boys. The woman stated that he has not returned to school since.
Marcel related too that after the shooting incident, the boys in the area would “provoke” Griffith and it recently escalated when her son hit one of them. She related that things started to get out of hand at her home and she chased the tormenter away but he returned later and stood outside. It was at this point, her son hit him. That matter she said was settled out of court.
“Alex is hasty…I am concerned about my child’s behaviour…all I can do is pray,” she said sadly.
She said that in addition to the frustration with how the court matter is going, he is probably being affected by the fact that only the cadet officer was charged.
According to Marcel, she already has his school bag packed and recently she asked him if he wants to return. She said that he responded in the affirmative.
“He is not the child he was before the incident. He is a different child. He had a lot on his mind,…” the woman said stressing that Griffith who is the fourth of her seven children now isolates himself. She said that she cannot get him to sit and talk to her anymore.
The woman said that she needs counselling help for her son.
“I glad to get someone to sit and talk with him. He needs that support’, she said.
Following the shooting, the child did not benefit from any counselling services. Marcel said she plans to visit the Ministries of Education and Human Services to see if she can get help in this regard.
The teen had stated that a gun was placed in his mouth and the trigger pulled. The bullet left a hole in his tongue and a gaping wound at the back of his throat. He spent some time in hospital before being released and was unable to speak and eat properly.
