We do not question the six-month sentence that Senior Resident Magistrate Winsome Henry has imposed on former police detective, Mr Carey Lyn-Sue, following his confession to fabricating evidence with a view to securing a conviction for the 2006 murder of 23-year-old Mr Sheldon Shaw.

For whether we agree with it or not, the sentence was within the parameters of her discretion, and as law-abiding citizens, we are obliged to respect it.

However, we cannot say the same for the views that the resident magistrate expressed concerning the significance of Mr Lyn-Sue's confession.

For as defence attorney Mr Roy Fairclough pointed out in yesterday's edition of our sister title, the Observer West, the confession was unsolicited, and but for Mr Lyn-Sue's decision to come clean, he'd have gotten away with it.

Additionally, Mr Fairclough reminds us, the matter of police officers fabricating 'ghost' witnesses and telling lies in order to circumvent the legal system and secure convictions, though shocking, is certainly not new.
In fact, the Evidence (Amendment) Act actually facilitates the opportunity for police officers to perpetrate this crime.

It is against this background that we question the resident magistrate's expressed opinion that the confession - which she rightly characterised as unjustified - has caused great damage to the legal system and the police force.

How so?

If, as we suspect is very much the case, the system has been facilitating the creation of ghost witnesses for several years, then Mr Lyn-Sue's confession, while damaging to the exterior image that the legal system and police force would wish to project, must be lauded for proving right the suspicions that defence attorneys have been expressing for years.

And if Mr Lyn-Sue's coming clean forces our legislators to put the necessary checks and balances in place to make it extremely difficult for policemen to conjure up fake witnesses to pervert the course of justice, then, as Mr Fairclough pointed out, the legal system owes him a huge debt.
Maybe, as other lawyers like Mr Morrel Beckford who represented Mr Lyn-Sue and Mr George Thomas have theorised, the sentence will deter others from coming clean.

Maybe, as defence attorney Mr Albert Morgan pointed out, it will act as a deterrent to those who are minded to take up, or continue, the practice.
As things stand, we'll never know for sure.

So, instead of speculating, it would be wise for us to make use of what we have, namely concrete proof that the system needs to be addressed and rectified as a matter urgency, as opposed to being left in the cesspool of slackness that is facilitated by the current legislation.

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