Becky Middleton
This week's series on the tenth anniversary of Becky Middleton's murder has again thrown light on one of the most dismal sagas in Bermuda's criminal justice annals.
The fact that this murder is still unsolved means that the Canadian teenager's family is still deprived of justice and is unable to close this chapter of their lives and move on.
And while it is impossible to put a price on a life, the fact that the members of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board could only find it in their hearts to provide a little more than $2,000 out of a maximum of $100,000 in compensation for the pain and suffering that the family has suffered is little short of shocking and had again heaped shame on Bermuda around the world.
To be sure, there are people who question why this newspaper and other members of the community continue to give the Middleton case a high profile. Variously, it can be argued that it was a long time ago, that Bermudians, black and white, have been victims of equally heinous crimes, and sadly, there are still a few people who think that this 17-year-old girl somehow brought this upon herself.
On its own, the facts of a 17-year-old girl being brutally raped and murdered is horrendous, but sadly, not completely unknown. It does make a difference that she was a tourist coming to an Island she believed to be safe and never living to see another day. And when this is coupled with the shocking bungling of this case, then there is every reason to raise it again, and to keep raising it until justice is served.
As former Commissioner of Police Colin Coxall observed in yesterday's newspaper, forensic medicine and DNA testing have advanced in leaps and bounds in the last decade. There is good reason to believe that taking the evidence from the case and re-testing it could lead to new facts emerging that might lead to a further prosecution.
Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen has stated that there were no grounds for re-opening the case in the absence of new evidence; the inference that Mr. Coxall draws from that is that new evidence could well lead to a new case, and possibly a prosecution.
The truth is that Bermuda's Police Service and prosecutors were tarnished by the handling of the case, and for many people, especially in Ontario, Bermuda's name will forever be associated with Becky Middleton.
Bermuda owes it to the Middletons, but more importantly, Bermuda owes it to itself, to close this chapter so everyone can move on.