The policeman who allegedly shot and killed 10-year-old Renee Lyons in Majesty Gardens, St Andrew almost five years ago is still at large.

Investigators said Constable Walter Spikes who was accused of killing the child, left the island before a warrant was issued for his arrest, based on a ruling by the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions in December 2003.

Spikes is accused of killing the child as he chased a fleet-footed youth, who was smoking a ganja spliff in a nearby market. The ex-cop allegedly fired his weapon at the drug offender but the bullet hit young Renee instead.

Renee died on the spot from a single bullet wound to the back of the head. Her death sparked a massive demonstration, and the government stepped in and promised to pay for the child's funeral expenses.

For her relatives, neighbours and friends, the fact that no one has been brought to justice for the death opens a floodgate of pain.

"Sometimes I can't stop remembering how them take the joy from her. She was just an innocent child who was doing what children do, playing, when she dead," Renee's father Ronnie Lyons told the Observer.

After realising that Spikes had fled, the Bureau of Special Investigations, the arm of the force which probes controversial police killings, contacted Lyons and informed him that the accused killer could not be located and that the National Intelligence Bureau was trying to locate him.

Unlike civilians, when cops are accused of unlawful killings, the matter is first investigated by the BSI who then pass their findings to the DPP for a ruling. The whole process can take years and gives rogue cops a chance to disappear, according to Jamaicans For Justice director, Susan Goffe.
The human rights activist said there was no clear indication that the present method of investigating fatal shootings was lettered into law.

"I don't think that there is any law that says it has to be before the DPP, it has come about by tradition," Goffe said.
Goffe urged the police high command to tighten the rules to make officers who have been involved in controversial killings more accountable within the force.

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