And today, the PM agreed with his wife that there should be consequences in the killing of 14-year-old Laddie Gillett. He told us that the police need continuous training on when to use lethal force - and that that situation on the beach did not warrant that.
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"The loss of any life is tragic, but especially of a young kid who is just starting his life at 14 years old is emotional to anybody, especially to a parent and more so to a mother that have that direct connection between them and the love for a child. So I do understand that Rossana displayed this morning, but like myself also as a father I could put myself in that position of would I react if that were to have happened to one of my children and certainly I cannot comprehend. All I could tell you is that it's something I wish would never happen to any father or mother or to any family - that they would lose the life of a 14 year old kid like Laddie."
"I agree with the Rossana, that there must be consequences. The police are trained and its obvious now that we are seeing that they need more training, but I remember she talking about lethal force and there was absolutely no reason why a police would use lethal force against a kid that has the back to you running away, then for you to take out your gun. The minute that you take out a gun, the chances are very high that you are going to pull that trigger and if you're running, obviously when you pull that trigger, it could hit anywhere and it's so tragic that it hit this kid in his back and he end up losing his life."
"I don't want to be seem as I am just condemning police just with a wide brush, but certainly in this instance there was absolutely in my mind no good reason why this police would pull a gun and on top of that point at a young kid and pulled the trigger. That's why I do agree with Rossana and like most Belizeans that there be consequences for taking such action."
And what does he think about the manslaughter charge? Well, he says for now, the law classifies it as manslaughter, but the Minister of Home Affairs has indicated that they will work on a way to specify different murder charges - such as first and second degree murder.
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I am no attorney, but it's unfortunate in laws in our system, you have murder and you have manslaughter. Murder it only could be when it's a deliberately act - I came in this room and pull a gun and I shoot you, because I wanted to kill you."
"In this instance, I am sure the police did not want to kill Laddie, but in his haste, he pulled out a gun and he killed him, but it was not pre-meditated and because it's not pre-meditated you can only charge for manslaughter. Now there are instances where manslaughter - people are saying oh you just pay a little fine and you walk away. That's not entirely true, because manslaughter you could get 10,15,20 years for manslaughter. I think that Minister Musa explained best when he said that we need to look at the laws the way it is set up right now that there should be different classifications of murder in this country. I think he cited United States as an example that has different classifications. So in cabinet yesterday we spoke a bit about it, about this situation and he said that he would be reviewing the laws and come into recommendations. Of course, those recommendations have to go to the attorney general's ministry to see how we could change that, so that we do not have to have a repeat of the tragic death of a young kid, a 14-year-old like Laddie."
