Hurt by the brutal murder of two missionaries to Jamaica and the seven years wait for the perpetrators of the crime to be convicted, senior clergyman Rev. Al Miller has called for a reformation of the justice system so that the prosecution of murder cases are done in a more timely manner.
The killing of the two American missionaries, Harold Nichols and Randy Hentzel in April 2016 made international headlines. Both had been living in Jamaica since 2002 with their wives, and were killed while riding their motorcycles to investigate a site where their group, Teams for Medical Mission, planned to build a house for an impoverished family. Prior to their deaths, they facilitated medical clinics, food distribution and hosted bible studies classes. The missionaries sometimes helped people with cancer get specialised treatment in Kingston and offered a wide range of humanitarian assistance to as many as 1,000 under-served people weekly in St Mary.
St Mary resident, Andre Thomas was found guilty of the brutal killing of the two missionaries on July 27 following a nearly four week trial. He was remanded until October 13 for sentencing.
Dwight Henry, a St Mary farmer had pleaded guilty in January 2023 to two counts of murder under a plea deal and was sentenced to life in prison with a stipulation that he serves 28 years before the possibility of parole. Both he and Thomas are cousins.
Rev. Miller, a senior pastor at Fellowship Tabernacle in Kingston, expressed condolences to the family of the two missionaries during his discussion programme Real Change posted on Youtube two weeks ago. The discussion was focused on the consequences of crime.
The pastor, who has had his own brush with the legal system, insisted that justice must be sure and swift to curtail crime.
“As citizens and leaders, we’ve got to revisit our justice system and the legal processes to find a way that justice is done, but it must be swift. We cannot be lingering years and years and years and nothing happens. Look, this is from 2016 and 2023 and we are just trying the case,” he said.
“Justice must be sure, in other words if when someone commits a crime, it must be believed by all that it is sure, that justice will be done. So government must create a climate where citizens are convinced that justice will be done [and] it must be sure,” the pastor continued.
The country’s justice system has been thrown in the spotlight in the last few weeks following the circulation of an unsigned letter purportedly from government prosecutors demanding better salaries in light of their heavy workload of up to 300 cases per month. The disgruntled civil servants stayed off the job on July 20, hampering court proceedings islandwide.
A subsequent announcement by the government to amend the Pensions Act to facilitate the increase in retirement age for the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and the auditor general (AuG), incited further discussions about DPP Paula Llewellyn. Separate letters recently authored by her and one of her senior deputies, Kathy Pyke drew more attention to the office, which tries criminal cases, including murders on behalf of the government.
Although Rev. Al Miller supports capital punishment for those who intentionally take the life of others, he said the process of delivering justice should be guided by God and the principles of love. He contended that evil is not natural, but believes the possibilities of consequences for such action would be a deterrent.
“In gangs and donmanship culture, how is it that they are able to maintain order? Because there is fear of consequences. Because those who step outside know for sure that they are going to be judged severely,” he said.
The pastor called upon citizens to play their part in ensuring justice by reporting on the perpetrators of criminal activities.
“You must tell what you know. When you know a crime is committed, don’t cover the crime. You must speak of it, if it is even your own family member, if it is an injustice done, then you must be one who is committed to justice and you have to love them, but you still have to say ‘you must pay the penalty for your crime’ so you can’t shield them in your yard because it’s your pickney, your brother, your aunty, your uncle or your friend, you have to say ‘no it will not be tolerated,” admonished the senior clergyman.
