There is a popular saying in Barbados that it is difficult to find justice in Coleridge Street (or Whitepark Road) for that matter. As we have seen this week, social media can be an even more cruel place for one to seek fairness.
Such was the case this week with a young man who found himself in the cell of a police station, ‘accused’ of crime, tried in the court of public opinion, and punished – all in one go, on several social platforms.
The normal rules of engagement suggest that a man is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and it is the place and duty of the Barbados Police Service to use their experience and tax payer funded resources to investigate, capture accused persons, properly lay charges against them, and bring them before the court of law for trial.
Today, a 24-year-old Eden Lodge, St Michael man who, from his recent interview in the local media, is still traumatised at being accused of peeping into the windows of a young woman, harassing her and hurling obscenities.
As it turned out, the young man appears to be innocent and just happened to be walking home from a friend’s house. Unfortunately for him, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The other victim in this sad episode was the young woman whose privacy and security were violated. In an attempt to “capture” the perpetrator, she sought to secure his image on her phone and assist police in the investigation.
However, in her eagerness, she seemingly “captured” the wrong man and upended his life, as his picture and the accompanying accusations are forever on the Internet, for a crime that many find abhorrent.
While we credit the young woman for promptly apologising in public, the damage has already been done.
“Throughout the ordeal the police found the person who did violate my privacy and I am thankful for that. However, Mr Thorpe I am extremely sorry and humbly apologise. I hope that you can accept my apology and that it is understood that it was never my intention to humiliate or hurt you, but just to have the person outside of my window on that night charged,” she stated.
But we must also critically examine the Police Service’s role. While we have not been officially informed that the other man in their custody in connection with the same matter has been charged, the 24-year-old Eden Lodge man’s picture with the headline Wanted Man is still on the Barbados Police Service’s Facebook page. This, two days after the woman apologized for wrongly accusing him.
This situation reinforces the 24-year-old’s concern that his life is ruined because the idea that he was some kind of pervert has already been baked into the minds of the thousands of people who viewed and shared the controversial posts.
We have on occasions warned in this editorial space about the “rush to publish” and the “be the first to share and comment” syndrome. It is a fatal flaw.
Too many people are failing to check the source of their “news”, the legitimacy or correctness of the information they view or hear before spreading it. There is very little fact-checking or rational interrogation information, and this is most unfortunate.
We have seen the explosion of bloggers, who in their desire to gain followers, engage in what is known as “click baiting”. Some have deliberately used social media to ruin the reputation of others with salacious gossip, rumours, inuendo and outright lies.
Earlier this year, we had the unfortunate incident of a blogger who was also too swift to share information that almost resulted in a mistrial during a serious criminal matter. She was hauled before a High Court Judge and given a stern dressing down for her actions.
What took place this week does not appear to be fuelled by any malicious intent, but it presented another teachable moment regarding the danger of being too quick to believe and spread information on social media. Once it is published or shared, it is near impossible to erase.
It is now left to the 24-year-old man to decide how he planned to address the matter, but we sincerely hope that he is able to recover from what has been an unfortunate but life-changing event.
