The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE family of Desmond Key, the detainee who was beaten while in police custody and later died, said they are satisfied with the sentencing given to the man responsible for his death.

Speaking with reporters yesterday following former police corporal Donovan Gardiner's sentencing of 10 years in prison over the brutal beating, Key's teary eyed mother, Christine Key, said the family can now move to bring closure to the painful ordeal.

"Four and a half years ago,” she said, “when the incident happened, it was like a pain to us to bring back those memories over and over again. I am relieved.

"He could've gotten more, but I’m glad it’s enough time. I think we will be satisfied that he’ll be spending time. It wouldn't bring Desmond back, but at least he'll be paying for what he did."

And although Desmond's smallest child is still too young to know the circumstances surrounding her father's death, Christine said the immediate family will never forget the long road they travelled to get to this point.

"Well," Christine said, "she doesn’t know what’s going on cause when she saw this, this morning she asked if I’m going to a funeral. I said 'No. I'm not going to a funeral.’ She was like eight months when he was buried, but she doesn’t really know the whole outcome of her father's passing.

"Maybe when she gets older she'll understand, you know. But it’s a relief and the burden lifted, not that we will forget about it, because he will still be in our thoughts and his children will always be there to be a reminder."

Desmond died on January 19, 2008 of pancreatitis at the Princess Margaret Hospital after being at the facility for seven months. He was beaten with a baseball bat in a holding cell at the Grove Police Station on June 17, 2007.

Veronica Bastian, grandmother, said she was happy of the outcome despite believing it was insufficient.

Ms Bastian said: "For five years now we've been waiting for justice. Praise God justice has been served. It is a small justice, but through God, we will deal with it."

However, she said, regardless of the length of Gardiner’s prison term, it will not be able to erase the family's pain.

"Death is something you can't never forget, especially in the manner in which my grandson was taken. He was murdered," she said.