There is a popular saying in Barbados that it is difficult to find justice in Coleridge Street (or Whitepark Road) for that matter. As we have seen this week, social media can be an even more cruel place for one to seek fairness.Such was the case this week with a young man who found himself in the cell of a police station, ‘accused’ of crime, tried in the court of public opinion, and punished – all in one go, on several social platforms.The normal rules of engagement suggest that a man is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and it is the place and duty of the Barbados Police Service to use their experience and tax payer funded resources to investigate, capture accused persons, properly lay charges against them, and bring them before the court of law for trial.Today, a 24-year-old Eden Lodge, St Michael man who, from his recent interview in the local media, is still traumatised at being accused of peeping into the windows of a young woman, harassing her and hurling obscenities.As it turned out, the young man appears to be innocent and just happened to be walking home from a friend’s house. Unfortunately for him, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.The other victim in this sad episode was the young woman whose privacy and security were violated. In an attempt to “capture” the perpetrator, she sought to secure his image on her phone and assist police in the investigation.
