Some Guyanese may recommend jail time for me, but I feel for former SWAT Constable, Sherwin Peters. Mr. Peters, the ill-fated rank sent on an ill-conceived mission to do ill to the now deceased Orin Boston of Dartmouth, Essequibo. A man shot and killed (murdered) at any time (murdered) is a horror. A citizen shot, his life snuffed out like a flea, in his own home in his own bed is wantonly depraved, inhumanly indifferent. And, when this young man was shot and shipped off to eternity in front of his wife on that dismal dawn, then what occurred was a gruesome shattering of all that’s lawful, honest, civilized in this society. I still feel deeply for Sherwin Peters, now shuffled off and shutout of the national consciousness (and conscience) for 25 years. It might as well be his last meal and that last final walk to that last place, that ends life.
When some lives are so cheap, then there’ll always be those who reap obscene harvests of death. Should I call some killing fields beside that of Orin Boston’s bed? The State settled quickly with Mrs. Fiona Boston. It conveys how much the PPP Government, via the Guyana Police Force, wanted to scrub its hands clean of Orin Boston’s blood. Manslaughter, involuntary homicide, accidental death, whatever Guyana has on its books, the killing of Boston was premeditated murder. Who sent whom to his home and why? Illicit substances? Don’t make me laugh and cry. For Orin Boston could be anybody that’s an inconvenient nuisance to the PPP Government, with the Guyana Police counted on to deliver lethal blows.
Why a team of a dozen heavily armed SWAT members? Why only Constable Peters was charged, was forced to walk the plank, was made into the sacrificial lamb for a murder that goes high up here? Guyanese officialdom loves to make a go at talking and imitating the ways of America. So why a lone SWAT member is the only murderer, when so many others were on the scene, in that invaded and devastated home, in the vicinity of that now blood-soaked bed? I believe that the Orin Boston murder is like the Adriana Younge mystery, make it go away as quickly and neatly as possible. One man put away for 25 years, and the government, the police, and those aiding and abetting murder can celebrate the triumph of justice, and the purity of the law over the depravity of men.
When Constable Peters or Sergeant Kendall of a Linden murder can act with such alacrity, with seemingly haughty insensitivity, I have great difficulty in accepting that they arrived in their respective mental murder zones of their own accord, their own speed. When I include similar such sinister murders, something becomes clear, that which is undeniable. An environment is fostered, a mindset is fueled and refueled. Both have the power of some of the highest offices and officeholders in this land. It is one that flourishes, (one in which there that is confidence) that prompts lowly constables and sergeants, to think of themselves as immune from prosecution, no matter the criminal nature of their persecutions. Not even for murder, and even for that of a man in that penultimate resting place (his bed). Not even persecutions of unarmed civilians (murder again), as already alleged and charged.
Twenty-five years for manslaughter for Sherwin Peters is timely, and there are many, who would be quick to cheer. But what if that team was sent on a particular mission, given specific orders? Young men, gullible men, ambitious men, have a way, a belief, in certain instances, that some things will find favor with those who stand above them. There will be muted thanksgiving in some quarters for Sherwin Peters banished for a score and five years from the face of Guyanese considerations, Guyanese conversations, Guyanese contradictions. Justice for Orin Boston’s family, such as it is, may also be an injustice for former Constable Sherwin Peters. For he was a man doing his job, as trained. Probably groomed and guided also. Yeah, it’s that kind of country, that kind of national climate, government, leadership, and so much more that is criminal and malevolent and repugnant, even by the lowest standards.
I may be the only Guyanese who spares a thought, sheds a half tear for Mr. Sherwin Peters. What I am doing in effect, and rather poorly, is shed a tear for Guyana, its criminal environment that begins very high, then tiers down to a fatal collision with Orin Boston on his deathbed and Sherwin Peters who made his bed with a gun. I hear the scream of Mrs. Fiona Boston. Do Guyanese hear anything, anymore? Or feel something, like a little shame, a speck of regret It’s Guyana: ever-grieving, ever wailing, ever dying.
