Of Confession, Probity And Insanity…

“Mi cannot come to mi senses, why mi kill mi pickney them”

The suspect  Mr. Coote, who is being accused of murder in the deaths of the two children and pregnant common law wife in Green Island, Hanover, Ja W.I, cannot understand why he killed his two children and pregnant baby mother. Coote cannot understand why he killed  …. he seems dazed.  He was being interviewed and this was aired on national television. The video shows an unshaven Coote answering questions being posed by an unidentified interviewer. he seemed to have been confused and said he had no idea what happened. We are  wondering if he had, for a second instantaneously lapsed into temporary insanity?

What could have led this senior citizen, a man of 61, to take a machete to harm his 7 and 4 year old daughters. and his baby mother/common-law wife who was very pregnant with a child.?

Ethical

Was it ethical for CVM TV to have aired on National Television in Prime time an interview with the alleged murderer today. He has not been formally charged for the murder of his two children and his common law woman who was also pregnant as stated above?

Boundaries

It appears to me that possibly some legal boundaries may have been trampled on …  Is  this just a new frontier in broadcasting that has been entered into tonight … I can’t recall ever seeing this before on local TV.  Is it just a confession and therefore it is quite in order,  I don’t know?

Rights Of Accused

Interesting what kind of response will come from the legal profession. We will not judge in light of what has happened this evening on CVM TV with that interview with suspect accused of murder.  We wonder if the rights of the accused been trampled on irreversibly … I really wonder because this is really very strange, in fact, most bizarre.

It is rather interesting to know and I really have to talk to some legal luminaries to get their reaction to the publication.  I am quite amazed at what happened.
Will post reaction later.

Not Charged

It should be noted that Mr. Coote has not been formally charged for these alleged crimes.

Presumption Of Innocence

The last thing I’d want to see happen though is for the suspect based on our judicial system to be not presumed innocent.  A person is presumed innocent until found guilty by a competent court of law … we are not a Banana Republic and we do not operate a kangaroo court system here in Jamaica. Do we?

Dazed

From my perspective having seen the video aired on national television of a confession of some sorts from Mr. Coote …it appears to me that he was quite dazed and I wonder if he will be competent to plead … I don’t know … it is really all bizarre, trust me.

Ratings

From a ratings perspective it is really big for CVM but is that really what’s important here?  How do you draw a line between the rights of the accused and  your wanting to be ahead of the competition in terms of ratings?.

DPP Paula Llewellyn

As a veteran Journalist I have never seen so many boundaries hit in this game of journalism.

Will the DPP Paula Llewellyn or a defense lawyer say the suspect has been denied a fair trial due to extensive pretrial publicity and throw out the case?

Will the court be able, as a result of the above …. find it difficult if not impossible to choose an unbiased jury? We hope not.

Was there probity in the publicity referred to above?

Can the suspected murderer claim insanity?  Based on the data presented, you my astute  readers will have to decide. As usual the verdict is yours. What is your perspective? Over to you madam DPP. Paula Llewellyn.

Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie has a keen interest in matters legal, is Senior International Correspondent & Photojournalist for Vision Newspaper.