“Where is my justice? My child dead. Where is my justice for that?” lamented the mother of Renaldo Dixon, one day after the acquittal of the man who was charged with his murder.
In an interview at a neighbour’s home at Chase Village, Chaguanason Tuesday, Camille Taitt was in tears following Monday’s not guilty verdict in favour of Johnathan Bruce, 24.
Dixon, 14, a Form Three student of Waterloo Secondary School, was stabbed to death in a classroom during an altercation with Bruce, who was then a Form Five student, over a female student nine years ago.
At the end of a judge-alone trial, Justice Geoffrey Henderson found him not guilty on the grounds that he acted in self-defence.
However, Taitt, a single mother, yesterday said the judge’s ruling has left her confused.
“Are you telling me it is okay for someone to provoke someone, kill them and get away with it?” she questioned.
After waiting so long for justice, Taitt said she never expected that outcome.
“Hearing the magistrate (judge) saying Johnathan is free to go because he loss nine years of his life in prison, because he was provoked to do what he did it, was overwhelming. It was not what I was expecting. At the end of the day, you took my child life and getting off scot-free. What about my son? Nothing? He just lost his life. I have a lot of questions. I do not understand.”
Describing Dixon as well-mannered and loving, she said her son was no trouble-maker or bully and the school never called her in to discuss any issues with his behaviour back then.
“So when you hearing talk now and that he was being a bully and provoking in school, where did that come from. Then you hear that the (Bruce) mother had to go into school and make complaints. So why the teacher did not call and tell me that Naldo was giving trouble? Nobody called me. If they had called and said that, I would have reached down in the school,” Taitt said.
Lamenting that both the judicial and school systems have failed her, she questioned why the school never called her if they had problems with him and why the police never found the knife that was used to kill her son.
Taitt said it took her about three hours to compose herself after the verdict, especially since that day was also the third-year anniversary of the death of her eldest son, Ricardo Dixon. Ricardo was gunned down while on his way to work. No one has been arrested for his murder.
Taitt said her other children, ages 12 and 16, also still cannot understand how Bruce was acquitted.
Taitt, who also has a three-year-old daughter, said her sons’ deaths have taken a toll on her health. She said her two older children are also being treated for stress. While she never met Bruce in person, she would like an opportunity to do so.
“To ask him why. Why did he see it fit to use violence?” she added.
She is also fearful for her son who recently sat the Secondary Entrance Assessment Examinations and will be entering secondary school.
“For him to go out there to a secondary school, you know how I feel about that? Is it fair for him to go out there, and then people bash him? Would he be bullied? That is my fear,” she lamented.
While agreeing with the judge’s advice to walk away in violent situations, Taitt believes that corporal punishment should be re-implemented in schools.
Meanwhile, at his Freeport home yesterday, Bruce’s father Joel Bruce thanked God his son was released.
“Excellent work. I thank the judge for that process and our condolences to the boy that die and his family. We want good things for them too,” said the father, who had not yet spoken to his son since his release.
He said he was happy Bruce furthered his education, including CAPE subjects, joinery and barbering, while incarcerated. He was not sure if his son will be staying with him or his mother following his release.
