Grant’s family suing Central
Government– Lawyer says
policeman’s fatal shot was wrongful act –
PHILIPSBURG--The wife and children of Orlando Alberto Grant who was killed by police June 8 have taken the Central Government to Court for damages to the tune of NAf. 50,000. There is a court injunction with a regular court case on the way.
The NAf. 50,000 in damages that the family hopes will be approved by the Court of First Instance this Friday serves as an advance to cover the initial cost of the burial that will take place in the Dominican Republic shortly, explained attorney-at-law Mike Bindraban.
Grant’s wife and five children want to honour the deceased’s wish to be buried in his home country, the Dominican Republic. The Prosecutor’s Office has released the body now that an autopsy has been performed.
According to Bindraban, the family has not only incurred “a lot of cost” to organise the funeral, but has also suffered a great deal of immaterial damage. The advance of NAf. 50,000 in that sense would also serve to cover the family’s “distress.”
The police force, and by extension the Central Government, has committed a “wrongful act,” said Bindraban. Though the federal detectives haven’t concluded the investigation yet, he said it was “at least plausible that police shot him down.” The federal detectives apparently have been here and have already returned to Curaçao to conclude the investigation.
Because the officer who fired the fatal shot works for police force, which resorts under the Central Government, the latter can be held legally responsible, explained Bindraban. “Injustice has been done. That is very clear to me and government is responsible for the distress this has caused to the family,” said the lawyer.
Bindraban announced that after the court injunction, there would be a regular court case (bodemprocedure) in which the family would seek a great amount of damages. He said the amount of the damages still had to be calculated.
According to Bindraban, the preparations for the funeral have started and the family needs the money. “Something has to happen. These are not wealthy people. They have to make meets end every month,” he said.
He said the family was “very emotional,” adding that the truth of a dead husband and father, shot by police during a house search on Madrid Drive in Dutch Quarter June 8, had really sunk in after they were released from police custody last Wednesday. Some family members had been picked up by Immigration. “It is a very sad story,” Bindraban concluded.
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