“There is no justice. Anybody can see there is no justice. I am having no justice,” Michelle Parks, the mother of Travis Parks, who was fatally shot allegedly by MMC Security Force guards, said after she learnt that an inquest had been ordered into her son’s death.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has ordered that an inquest be held in the matter. It is now a matter for the court to initiate.
When contacted yesterday, Michelle was unaware that an inquest had been ordered into her son’s death. She lamented that after being continually frustrated while following up the matter, she was not informed of the course of action even though the officer looking after the matter had promised to call her whenever the file was returned from the DPP.
She noted that Travis, a minibus conductor had assisted in raising and feeding the family with the income that he earned. “They wouldn’t understand,” she said, adding, “I don’t know what to do… I need justice.”
She questioned how the guard could have shot Travis in the back and then leave him bleeding, while they picked up the spent shell and drove away.
Travis, a 22-year-old minibus conductor was fatally shot in his back on Sunday, April 27 at Tiger Bay, allegedly by an 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. The guard, who allegedly fired the fatal shot had been detained by police but later released on station bail.
Michelle had told this newspaper that MMC had paid the funeral expenses for her son but that was the end of their assistance.
