Over three weeks after the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old minibus conductor allegedly by guards attached to the MMC Security Force, the mother of the dead youth said nothing has been heard about the matter and she wants justice to be done.
Michelle Parks, the mother of Travis Parks, who was shot at Tiger Bay on the afternoon of April 27 told Stabroek News yesterday of the frustration she endures as she tries to ensure that her son’s death is not swept under the rug.
She said that since the incident, she has been visiting the Brickdam police station to ascertain the status of the investigation and was told that the file was with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). She said that when she visited the station recently, she was told that the file had returned but the DPP had requested the cause of death report. However, last Friday when she visited the station, she said, she was told that the file had not yet been sent back to the DPP but they would try to send it back that day.
“Is sheer pushing around so far,” the woman said.
She said she was unemployed and struggling to make the minibus fare to visit the station.
Her son, a 22-year-old minibus conductor was fatally shot in his back on April 27 at Tiger Bay, allegedly by a MMC Security Force guard after being asked about a gold chain, which he reportedly denied knowing anything about.
According to residents after being pulled out of a bushy lot where he had gone to relieve himself and accused of stealing the gold chain, Parks was shot in the back as he was being led to the security firm’s vehicle. He was reportedly kicked and hit by the four guards, who were in brown and green uniforms, before being shot. A post-mortem examination revealed that he died as a result of a single gunshot wound to his abdomen. Residents said that after Parks was shot, the men picked up the bullet casing and got into their vehicle and drove away despite pleas for them to assist. Parks was eventually transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital by another vehicle, and he succumbed while receiving treatment. MMC had declined to comment until the completion of the police investigations into the matter. The guard, who allegedly fired the fatal shot had been detained by police but later released on station bail.
Michelle Parks said yesterday that MMC had paid the funeral expenses for her son but that was the end of their assistance.
Stabroek News was shown a letter that was sent to the Sandy’s Funeral Home and which had enclosed a cheque for expenses relating to Travis funeral. The letter was also copied to the family and the chambers of an attorney. In part, it read “the above payment is made ex-gratia and without admission of any liability on the part of MMC Security Force Inc, its agents, officers, employees or contractors”. It was signed by Major (ret) ROC King for the Chief Executive Officer.
Parks said that her son used to assist her, and without him, it was a struggle to maintain her five other children, the youngest of whom is one year old. “So far there has been no justice; the only assistance to my side is Mark Benschop. All the others who speak about injustice… there is no one…at my side and my family side,” she stated.
The woman related that she was told that the guard, who allegedly shot Travis, had said that the shooting was accidental and an official of the company had said the same thing to her.
Questioning how is it that could have happened; she said that that justice must be served. “All what I need is justice and so far the law is showing me that there is no justice,” she said. “Nobody told me nothing, nobody said nothing, they just got me running around, they just pushing me around.”
She said enough time had elapsed for investigations to be completed and some action taken.
