ANGELLA Hutchinson, mother of the 18-year-old boy who was killed by the police in 2007, said she has forgiven the officer who was yesterday found guilty of her son’s death and wishes him no ill will.
“I have no grudge against Mark Russell because even at times when I go to church I also pray for him so that God can have his way with him, and I am not saying this because he is guilty; I am saying this because God assured me last Friday that I have a God who never fails. King Jesus never fails,” a very emotional Hutchinson told the Jamaica Observer moments after the guilty verdict.
The former police constable, who was stationed at the Hunt’s Bay Police Station in Kingston, was found guilty of the murder of Ravi Thompson in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston.
The 34-year-old resident of Linstead St Catherine, who appeared to be in a daze, was convicted after the jury of five women and two men deliberated for nearly five hours, arriving at a 5-2 majority verdict.
Prosecutor Jeremy Taylor, senior deputy director of public prosecutions, led evidence that Russell assisted former colleague Morris Lee to shoot and kill Thompson after he was first shot during an exchange of fire between a joint police/military team and gunmen on Alexander Road in Kingston.
The court heard evidence from three soldiers that Russell took Lee’s gun and placed it in Thompson’s hand and discharged the weapon before Lee shot the teenager on Darling Street, while Thompson was being transported to Kingston Public Hospital.
Russell, however, maintained that he was innocent as he was not present at either scene when Thompson was shot. He said that he was being framed.
The conviction took 10 years, but Thompson’s mother said she was very happy with the outcome, as the years following her son untimely demise were very depressing and difficult for her and her family.
“Losing Ravi, I not only lost a son, but I lost my best friend.
“… I wanted to commit suicide, and I also had a son who was 10 at the time, and I also wanted to kill him so that we could both be with Ravi, because, as I said, he wasn’t only my son, he was my friend,” she said, choking up.
Hutchinson, who has been a devoted Christian for the past two years, said it was her faith in Christ that helped her to get through her dark times.
“I remember him (Ravi) always tell me ‘Mommy, if I lose you me nuh see wa mi a live fa,’ but now me lose Ravi and I am living not by my grace but by God’s grace and mercy that is what keep me for the past 10 years and now that I am in Christ I am not letting go,” said Hutchinson.
She said her son’s death had also affected his 75-year-old grandfather, who always said that he was going to “take him out a poverty”. The grandfather, she said, died of a broken heart a year after her son was killed.
Despite the deep pain and sadness that speaking about her deceased son had brought about, a teary-eyed Hutchinson, when asked to describe her son, suddenly broke out into a smile.
“Oh my,” she said with huge grin. “He is a very mannerable person, he is very helpful, and when mi said helpful him even have a friend who has a grandmother, and when no one is going to be at home he will be the one to babysit that granny. And even after he died she was still asking about him until gradually she found out and worry about it and died after.”
Hutchinson said her son had wanted to become a medical doctor.
“My daughter overseas is fulfilling Ravi’s dream; he died but his dream still lives on through his sister. Who could it be but God?” she added.
Before the verdict was reached, the jury, after deliberating for four hours and 39 minutes, came back hung — a 4-3 decision — and was sent back to the room by Justice David Fraser. They came back in less than 20 minutes later with the guilty verdict.
Russell is to be sentenced on July 31, while a social enquiry report was ordered.
A group of his former colleagues who had come out to support him was a picture of sadness and disappointment following the verdict.
They all declined to comment, but one was overheard saying that the soldiers should have been found guilty as well