The grieving widow of Selwyn Blues Knight is not surprised that police officer Everton Randolph Gittens was on Tuesday cleared of three charges including murdering her husband and shooting her son Junior Knight.
Without commenting on how she intends to move forward with any legal challenge to the decision made by Magistrate Kristie Cuffy- Sargeant to clear Gittens of the charges, Marleen Knight said for the past six years, she has been bracing herself for an unexpected verdict.
“Through the six years, I braced myself for what if. I always had myself braced for anything that would happen. And the way I see things was going in the court, I knew that I had a hard task.
So, I just relax my shoulders, breathe in and tek it like a woman. When you come to a realisation that you are not in the rank, you are not in the position to have a say, you gotta let go,” Mrs.Knight told Barbados TODAY minutes after receiving news about the verdict.
Gittens of Lot 1 Dash Gap, Bank Hall, St Michael was charged with the March 15, 2015 murder of Knight. He was also accused of recklessly engaging in conduct which led to Junior Knight being placed in danger of death or serious bodily harm and unlawfully wounding him with intent to maim, disfigure or disable him or to cause him some serious bodily harm.
The policeman allegedly shot the two men at Dash Gap while they were apprehending a man who had just broken into their home and stolen two tablets.
Magistrate Cuffy-Sargeant said the court found that based on the evidence, the charges cannot be sustained and a prima facie case had not been made out by the prosecution. She told the accused that he was discharged from the court and that he was free to go.
“Yes, I feel bad but not bad to beat up myself or to feel any animosity or anything like that because the court is who has to deal with it. It is out of my hands, there is nothing that I could do about it. I can’t fight them. I ain’t able to fight with them. I have done the best that I could do. I got to think about myself.
“Tomorrow is another day and within a couple weeks this will all be forgotten and I will be here weeping and mourning and worrying while people gone on with their lives, but I can’t do that. I feel bad to the point where I could still be strong and have a clear mind and a clear vision,” the widow said.
“So, coward dog keeps the whole bone. If it is the will of the universe that justice shall be served, it will be served in due time, not in my time. I am just waiting until my son comes home and we will sit down and talk because at least me and he got each other to lean on. But I ain’t letting this kill me. All I could tell Bajans is anybody come in at you, don’t let them get back out,” she added.
The 65-year-old who said she was notified on Tuesday morning that Magistrate Cuffy-Sargeant would be handing down the decision, explained that she was not present at the proceedings because she suffers with physical challenges and was unable to get someone to take her at such late notice.
However, she said she has no regrets about not being there.
“If I was to be at the court and hear the news it would hit me hard. But I was in the confines of my home where there is peace and safety that I could accept the news. I can’t get mad at Cuffy- Sargeant either because if Cuffy-Sargeant says she aint see sufficient evidence as a magistrate then I got to go with what she says.
“Cuffy-Sargeant read the report and she knows what went down and if she feels in her heart that the prosecutor ain’t present proper evidence, what more she could do? I don’t know the evidence that was presented. And if the prosecutor ain’t present enough evidence this is what it boils down to,” the widow said.
But even though she had hoped the court would have ruled in such a way that she would have been satisfied that justice has been served, Mrs Knight declared that she cannot break her focus on building a stronger relationship with her son and on them living their lives, though the days and nights have been long and difficult since the death of her husband.
“If the court sees it fit for a retrial or the prosecutor feels within his heart and deep down within his heart, he knows that there wasn’t a fair trial he would do the right thing. A man gone and left his wife to fend and a son with two children with a bullet at the back of his neck. So, all is at them.”
Knight’s visibly upset son Junior was seen outside his home hours after the judgment was handed down. However, he declined to comment.
His mother told Barbados TODAY that when she thought her son had finished work, she gave him a call to inform him that Gittens had been cleared of the charges.
“It is difficult for him. He was there with his father and he still got that bullet lodged in his body,” she said.
