Restorative justice in Seychelles: Convicts come face to face with the victims of their crimes

Twenty-Three year old Michel Oredy was murdered in August 1993 by a younger man, only eighteen years old, outside a (former) discotheque at Pointe Larue, eastern district of the main Seychelles island of Mahé.

On that fateful night, the killer, whom Lagrenade labels as “Mr X” so as not to reveal his identity stabbed Oredy twice with a dagger which he usually carried with him when going on a night out and ran away leaving him bleeding to death.

The culprit was arrested two to three years later after a friend who was present that fateful night spilled the beans and mentioned his name to the police.

The visit of Lagrenade and family members to the prison some 21 years later, came after the killer now almost 40 years old, had expressed the wish to meet them and seek their forgiveness.

“Mr X’s” request came now that he is embarked on a fairly new programme to the Seychelles which yet is already yielding positive results.

Restorative Justice, a new approach to criminal justice, focusing on reconciling offenders with their victims and reintegrating them into society, rather than retribution, is being implemented in the Seychelles prison system for almost a year now, as part of its rehabilitation efforts.

The programme is being run at Seychelles’ Montagne Posée prison on the main island of Mahé by Anglican church clergy Bryan Volcere since September 2013, following a visit he undertook to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town South Africa, where the programme has been very successful.

Father Volcere, who has been the prison’s counsellor and chaplain for 18 months, is being assisted by a South African couple; Jonathan and Jenny Clayton who conduct sessions for facilitators of the programme.

Jonathan is himself an ex-convict.