Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes’ follows the horrifying true story of Jean Charles, who is shot by the Metropolitan police on suspicion of being a terrorist, responsible for the bombings in London in 2005. While there is pressure on the police to find the culprits, it is their severe mishandling of Jean Charles’ surveillance and the events surrounding his death that become the core of the story. Apart from the cops, the show also focuses on the pain and grief of the victim’s family and their fight for justice.
Jean Charles de Menezes’ Parents Were Heartbroken at the Injustice
Hailing from the small town of Gonzaga in southern Brazil, Maria Otone de Menezes and Matozinhos Otone Da Silva lived a quiet life. They were parents to two sons, Giovani and Jean Charles. The latter was sent to the UK to pursue a better future. Still, Maria, a subsistence farmer, couldn’t help but be worried for her son. In an interview in 2015, she revealed that she had a bad feeling two days before her son’s death. She said that she had a dream about him in which they didn’t speak a word to each other, but it was premonitory enough for her to tell her husband that something bad was about to happen to their son. Despite the bad omen of the dream, she did not want to focus on that, but when the news of her son’s death was brought to her, she couldn’t contain her pain.
Maria described the terrible feeling she had when the news was broken to her, and said that a part of her died that day. Later, she and her husband would come to London and retrace their son’s final steps from his house in Tulse Hill to the Stockwell station in south London, where he was shot to death by the Met police. However, this was not enough to bring closure to them. What they wanted was justice. They wanted the Met police to confess their mistake, for the responsible to be punished, and for then-Commissioner Ian Blair to resign, along with Cressida Dick, who was in charge of the surveillance operation that day. While the regrets came, the apologies never did. Eventually, the case went to court, and the inquest ended in 2008, where the Met’s incompetence was brought to light.
A major setback arrived when the presiding coroner decided that the unlawful killing question would not be considered. Still, the jury gave an open verdict on several counts, which made Maria and Matozinhos happy. It gave them the hope that, despite the Met’s efforts to shrink away from their responsibility, the jury was not ready to turn a blind eye to their mistakes. Maria also revealed that, despite being a devout Christian, she could not find it in her heart to forgive the people who killed her son. The couple also expressed their dismay over the disinformation perpetuated about Jean Charles in the aftermath of his death. The most important thing they wanted from the hearing was to pave the way for legal changes that would prevent an innocent man like him from suffering at the hands of the law.
Jean Charles’ Parents Have Forgiven But Not Forgotten the Wrong Done to Him
Over the years, the Met has kept its silence over the responsibility it should have owned up to in Jean Charles de Menezes’ death. His parents, however, have done everything they can to get justice for him. When the British court did not give them the verdict they sought, they turned to the European Court of Human Rights in 2015. However, in 2016, they were disappointed to discover that the ECHR agreed there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone. Hence, no one could be held accountable for Jean Charles’ death. Now in their 80s and still living in Gonzaga, Jean Charles’ parents are heartbroken that the law did not support their fight for justice.
Still, Maria revealed that she has finally found the space in her heart to forgive the officers who shot her son to death. Despite their heinous actions, she does not want her final years to be embroiled in hatred towards anyone. While she has forgiven them, it doesn’t mean that she has accepted the vile fate that befell her son. When Jeff Pope approached the couple to create ‘Suspect,’ they wholeheartedly supported his effort to bring the truth to light. They served as consultants on the show, hoping that the four-part crime drama would serve their son’s point of view and show people that he was entirely innocent and had become a victim of the Met’s severe incompetence.
The couple was also shown an early version of the series before its premiere. Maria revealed that she was distraught after seeing the shooting scene, but it was necessary to give the story a raw perspective. She believes that everyone should watch the show so that they can understand the law’s misgivings and work to hold it accountable. As for their son, they still love and remember him and keep his memory alive by sharing stories about him.
Read More: Suspect: True Story of Jean Charles de Menezes, Explained
