June 30, 2011Dear Sir,Earlier this week I heard Senator Michael Dunkley complaining over the outcome of the case of a man accused of sucker punching another man in a bar.Sen. Dunkley is a very intelligent and qualified politician whom I respect! However today I'm going to have to agree to disagree with him. Mr Dunkley basically played the OBA's first card towards tackling racism by ridiculing the justice system for the result of the trial! He referred to the accused as a white man who was able to pay his way out of a situation!(I am not quoting him, I just paraphrased). He then went on to suggest that if this man was a little younger and was black and didn't have money then the result would have been different!The Magistrate, Khamisi Tokumbo, is my cousin but more than that he is a judge of the law and his decisions need to be respected! Senator Dunkley's comments were on the borderline of libel because he sent the message that Magistrate Tokumbo condoned bribery between the two parties at court and that is unacceptable. The monetary factor was financial compensation for the injuries and the magistrate saw them as genuine!The attempt to tackle racism was evident and I do applaud his good intentions, however it must be realised that the magistrate represents the justice system and on the date in question the justice system decided that the verdict was appropriate based on the facts and circumstances of the case!The two messages that I'm trying to get across is that consistency in any justice system would be an injustice to all because each case has circumstances that differ from another; there are no two cases alike! The second message is that no matter our intentions we must never undermine the justice system and disrespect those put in place to enforce it!ERON HILL