Show me your friends...
By DEBBIE JACOB
NOW let me get this straight-Russell Sankerali, who was one of the gang of nine hanged for the Baboolal family murders, wanted us to believe that he used to hang out with Joey Ramiah at cinemas and bars. On the fateful night, which ended up costing him his life, Russell said that he was not privy to any information about the killings before or after the fact. Furthermore, according to the Sunday Express article by Camini Marajh, we are supposed to believe that Sankerali's silence did not implicate him in any way in the murders. Well, thank you very much Camini and Marcia Henville, who interviewed Sankerali's mother, for providing us with proof for what we have always known-or should have known: the wrong person can sometimes be blamed for a crime, and some people, like Sankerali, find themselves tied to a crime scene simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm sure that it happens and I'm sure of how it happens. That too was outlined in Marcia's article if you took the time to put the whole picture together. Simply put, the confusion starts with society's failure to provide the services that children like Sankerali needed. In a society that was concerned with education as opposed to Common Entrance, Sankerali's interests would have been represented by a branch of social services that would have not only demanded that he attend school, but also made sure that he got the education he needed to become a relatively happy, well adjusted, and productive member of society. Sankerali didn't get that education. His mother said she tried to get him to go to school, but he made up excuses in spite of the fact that she beat him when he came back home. That's a sad point by itself. The fact that we turned our back on Sankerali as a child, and continue to turn our back on children like him, means we are doomed to have more unfortunate,-not to mention costly-cases like him. Although I find it hard to believe that Sankerali participated in that night's events without so much as a clue as to what was going on, I do find it possible, given Camini's and Marcia's stories. Some people question why Joey Ramiah would have wanted someone like Sankerali around. One of the obvious but unspoken rules of the "bully" kingdom is that people with low self-esteem are chosen either as victims or friends. They're mental or physical punching bags so that the bully can feel a false sense of power and toughness, but they can also be good friends because they provide an unquestioned sense of loyalty. Yeh, I believe that when Joey Ramiah wanted to get away from his life-and there must have been occasions that he did-he would have looked around for a simple liming partner who wouldn't complicate matters. And I know that Sankerali's low self-esteem had to have flourished when a "big" boy like Joey wanted to lime with him. Even if Sankerali was a "nice" person, as everyone keeps saying, he had to be constantly haunted by the fact that he didn't have an education; he didn't have a job-he didn't have anything to nourish self- esteem. So I can see how Sankerali would have ended up in that car and ended up by the Baboolals without really knowing what he was involved in on that fateful night. Information on Clint Huggins' tape and other information presented in Camini's article suggest that Sankerali wasn't guilty of the actual murders and he possibly didn't even know about the murders after the fact. (Wouldn't those men have had bloody clothes when they entered the car?) That's a little different from saying that he was innocent because the technicalities involved in proving innocence in someone who is present at a crime is a complicated matter. Still, Sankerali seems to have been guilty of naivete and trust, psychological crimes committed by many young people who aren't taught by their parents or school how to stand up for themselves, make the right friends, or hang out with people who won't endanger your life. Overprotection is as bad as neglect. (I heard Dr Springer say that last week on her radio programme while I was at the dentist's office). One wonders if anyone could have stood up to Joey Ramiah and say, "Sorry, partner, I don't want to lime with you." But then, that brings us full circle again to the fact that if Sankerali was properly educated, he would not have had the word "victim" stamped all over him and the Joey Ramiahs of this world would not have given him a second glance. As for the matter of trust, I guess his silence proved that. When I was a little girl, I used to feel enraged whenever my mother said: "Tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are." I always said, "That's mean, unfair and prejudicial. I could have friends that treat me differently from anyone else." She'd counter by saying, "Nobody will buy that. You'll get lumped in the same category." I am sad about the fact that Russell Sankerali proved her point. What makes me even sadder is the knowledge that by not providing Sankerali with the education he deserved, we ended up, helping him choose the wrong friends.
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