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The last time we spoke, Sonika told me that he wanted to go down to Pulse and see if he could become a model. He asked me if i had a link.

He had been shoveling dog shit to send himself to school since he was 9 years old. At 20, we were having our final conversation as we both walked off the hill. He had been heading to Heart Trust NTA to register for school which was to begin for him in January where he was to pursue his talent in the culinary arts.

The first few times i encountered Sonika, it was because he would hail me by name long before I knew his. “Wahgwaan Sam” he would say to me and i would acknowledge him, but i remember asking few people around me repeatedly’ “Who is that youth; he always calls me by name and i dont even know him.” Eventually i came to understand that he worked for a prominent family on the hill, doing odd jobs in the yard.

Other than his vibrant smile and his consistent hail, Sonika never had much to say. He was a great listener; a young man who was only a few steps from greatness. There is not one member of the community of Skyline Drive who did not love him; including those who did not know him well.

Skyline Drive is divided by a chasm which was created in heavy rains many years ago. As a result, through way traffic has come to a halt on this hill. The only vehicles that drive here belong to persons that live here or visitors of persons that live here.

A half hour before his death, his friends who were on my side of the chasm called him and told him to forward and linkup. He had told them he was stewing a pot; indulging in the one thing which would have freed him in life; his desire to feed people. His friends on his side of the chasm told me that he had then finished making breakfast, from which some of them had eaten.

There is a wanted man who lives in Jacks Hill. I will not disclose his alias. Apparently the police received intelligence that this particular wanted man had ventured out and was headed toward the chasm. Whomever called the police also stated that the wanted man had been dressed in a green hoodie.

Hoodie’s are commonplace dress on Skyline Drive. Not only because of threat of Tomas, but because the weather here on any normal day is a bit chilly. Sonika ventured out of his house to go meet up with his friends. He passed a crowd of people by the corner shop who he greeted cheerfully. He had a small comb in the front of his hair as he usually did, and was wearing a green hoodie.

Having left the shop he continued down the road.

Maybe thirty seconds later persons at the shop saw two police vehicles come hurtling around the corner skidding in the mud as they went. On the other side of the chasm, two police vans parked and officers dressed completely in blue with knee guards on scampered into Rita Marley’s front garden, which is the only way to get to the other side.

Unawares, Sonika kept walking toward the chasm.

Sitting in my house, on my side of the chasm, I heard four gunshots. I wondered to myself who could possibly be shooting on the hill. As soon as that thought was completed i heard six more shots fired, and then another five, the last five sounding like that of a pump rifle and the first ten sounding like those of pistols.

I called a friend of mine who lives across the chasm, and he told me that he had been further up the road, but that he had seen some police vehicles pass him. He said when they passed him they slowed beside him and he heard one of them say, ” No anno him dat”

I put on my shoes and went next door to the music studio where I spoke with the producer who said he had heard nothing. Continuing outside i reached up onto the road to see a police van speeding down the road. The other was sitting at the edge of the chasm, still throttling, with no-one in it. A policeman shouted: “We kill one a dem, and we not makin the rest of them get weh!” A group of police then walked out of Rita’s garden into their vehicles and drove away.

I walked through the garden.

The last time i saw Sonika, I was walking through the garden. My head was down as i was carefully observing the (treacherous when wet) terrain. Hearing footsteps i lifted my head to see Sonika walking toward me. He broke into a smile. With an outstretched hand he said’ “Wah Gwaan Sam!” I replied, “Big up youself mi yout” He said, “Dont say a word” and continued along as i went on my way.

When i got to the other side of the garden, I walked around the first bend in the road and saw a group of people up ahead. They were gathering around a particular area. As i got closer, i saw a small pink comb with blood and brain marrow spattered across and around it. There were two feet of blue slippers as well with blood dribbled across them.

I got there just in time to see his mother come running out of her house and down the road from the other direction headed toward the crowd. She screamed at the crowd asking them: “Who see dem!” Who see!” “Nobody dont see mama”, was the reply. She crumbled into a heaving heap, with a cry that cut the sky open.

The rain began to fall. The people wished Tomas had come. If Tomas had come, someone said; this would never happen.

The friend i called who had seen the police pass up the road was there, dressed also in a hoodie. His hoodie though was black.

After shooting the innocent 20 yr old whom they had mistaken for someone who did not even slightly fit his description, they scooped up his remains and drove hastily out of the community, pointing their guns in the direction of persons who stuck their heads out of their homes hoping to figure out what had just happened.

I gave my tv away one month before World Cup. I do not own a radio. Some persons wonder why and have asked me. Hopefully the following paragraph will tell why.

Four new police vehicles arrived on the scene of the crime, cordoned off the area and began to take pictures. They told the community members that they received a report that the team who had been there earlier were doing a patrol through the hill, came upon a group of men and came under heavy gunfire. Does this sound too familiar? When i found myself speaking to these new officers, their response to me was to ask me if it does not seem illogical that the highly trained police would just drive up and shoot an innocent man; i told them that was exactly the point of what took place. They told me not to swear his innocence. They told me that I am not with this young man every minute of the day and therefore can not state that he did not have a gun on him. I told them that in as much as they were asking me to be objective in my assesment, they should be objective enough in theirs to also accept the possibility that my friend, Sonika was killed in cold blood..

CVM arrived on the scene but not on the side of the chasm where the people were. The police had cordoned off the road and would not allow the media to cross the crime scene. I wonder what the news report on CVM will say tonight.

Even more so, i wonder if justice will come to this humble family of the hills who have done nothing but respect each other and their community, and occasionally wear green hoodie’s when going to look for a friend.

It could very well have been me, coming home from a trip to the corner shop. I too own a hoodie. But that day, maybe my life would have been saved as my hoodie is brown. But maybe if I had seen Sonika at the shop, as is typical I would have told him to wait on me, and together we would have been walking back around. And I am sure the sotry would have been that two cronies were killed. I almost wish I was among the dead, so persons could clearly see that someone they knew well had been killed as well. Someone who more persons of in positions of power could vouch for in a personal way. Some have been heard to be saying that my story is one side of the story. I know Sonika. Maybe if they killed me too, some of you would take another look at this case.

After a trip to Maddens Funeral Home, Sonika’s mother found that he had recieved three shots. Two to his back, and one to his head. The shot that hit him in the head from the back pushed his forehead out of his body just above his eye.

The family needs a lawyer to represent their case. They CAN NOT afford one. If anyone in such capacity has read this letter and is moved to acting, whether through funding the process or giving legal aid pro-bono. Please. Contact me.

Let it not be said that this is a moving story. Let it be said that this was a spark, and that cumulatively we began a fire that forever changed the course of our nation’s history. Without that, this story would not have been moving, nor would it have moved anything or anyone into action.

I WRITE THESE NOTES FULLY COGNIZANT THAT MY ACTIONS COULD MAKE ME A TARGET. I HOWEVER AM WILLING TO STAND FOR CHANGE.

The bigger issue is that, by law, when the police shoot someone, they are supposed to carry them to hospital immediately. There was no crime scene cordoned off immediately with police left on scene. Due to this, considering the fact that when the investigating officers arrived on scene they told the community that they were informed that the unit had been fired upon, i surmise a gun will be produced. I also surmise that the gun will have Sonika’s fingerprints on it, probably placed there on the journey from the hill to KPH, by putting his dead hands on to the gun.

Sonika died for a reason. He died because he has the right friends, in the right positions of power, and with the ability to make things happen. The bigger issue is that the system is designed to accomodate the possiblity of corruption in the JCF. This system is the same system which has caused the unlawful deaths for numerous youths across the island, none of whom had the voice to speak for them after their passing.

Sonika’s death was not just an isolated unlawful act. It is the product of a flawed system of justice, or might i say a perfected system of injustice, which allows officers of the (law) to cover their tracks when they make poor judgement and without accosting their victims, murder them from many metres away.

Sonika’s death is a spark. We are the fire. We must be the change that will affect the history of our island going forward. I knew Sonika was destined for greatness. There could be no greater outcome than this, for Sonika’s passing. Let us unite to achieve this end. 




If you or anyone else can help in whatever way please feel free to contact the person who wrote this on his facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=100001598953216

Every two weeks an article will be written about the ”Dons” that have passed. Much of the knowledge we have is based on what we hear, much of which is watered down.

‘Jim Brown’ Is Still Dead, Isn’t He?