Tag: Caribbean Crime

Jamaica’s Former Prime Minister To Retake The Stand In The Tivoli Enquiry Trial Surrounding The Dudus Coke Manhunt

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Jamaica’s former Prime Minister, Bruce Golding to retake stand in Tivolil Enquiry for cross examination.

The Tivoli Commission of Enquiry is to be opened to the public on Monday.

The enquiry was scheduled to continue on Tuesday, after a break in February, but was put off until tomorrow due to the illness of Chairman Sir David Simmons and the visit of US President Barack Obama to Jamaica on Thursday.

The next sitting is on Friday, but the session will not be opened to the public, as attorneys are to make submissions on documents that requests are being made to keep out of the public, Commission Attorney Garth McBean, QC, told the Jamaica Observer.

When the commission reopens to the public, former Prime Minister Bruce Golding is to be recalled for questioning from Queen’s Counsel Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, who is representing Rev Al Miller.

Miller was arrested and charged after Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, who was then on the run, was held in his presence in June of 2010. Miller had said that he was taking Coke to the US Embassy in Kingston on instruction from the authorities.

After Golding’s testimony, former Police Commissioner Owen Ellington will continue at the witness table.

The enquiry is looking into the police/military operation in the West Kingston area in May 2010 to apprehend then Tivoli Gardens strongman Coke.

More than 70 people, including a Jamaica Defence Force soldier, died as a result of the operation.

Jamaica Observer

Former Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington Testifies In Dudus Coke Manhunt Enquiry

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The enquiry is looking into the police/military operation in the West Kingston area of Jamaica in May 2010 to apprehend then Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

More than 70 people, including a Jamaica Defence Force soldier, died as a result of the operation.

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Via Jamaica Observer:

FORMER Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington will today retake the witness stand when the Tivoli Commission of Enquiry resumes at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

The enquiry, which started last year December, took a break in February.

The enquiry had previously taken a seven-week break for the Christmas/New Year season before resuming in early February.

Other high-profile witnesses to testify before the commission are former Prime Minister Bruce Golding; Former Security Minister Dwight Nelson; and Dorothy Lightbourne, the former justice minister and attorney general in the Bruce Golding Administration.

A number of West Kingston residents have testified at the enquiry.

Tivoli Gardens Resident Testifies He Witnessed And Suffered Police Brutality During Police Raids

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Maurice Tomlinson claims he witnessed and endured brutality at the hands of soldiers on May 24, 2010 during the Tivoli Gardens raids.

A Tivoli Gardens resident has testified that he witnessed a member of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) collar another man and used him to smash several glass windows on a house during the 2010 police-military operations in the west Kingston community.

This was among several acts of brutally Maurice Tomlinson claims he witnessed and endured at the hands of soldiers on May 24, 2010 as he gave evidence before the West Kingston Commission of Enquiry at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

Tomlinson, the seventh witness to take the stand, was also the first to report seeing what he described as “a rocket-propelled” bomb land in Tivoli Gardens.

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However, Linton Gordon, one of the attorneys for the JDF, interrupted Tomlinson’s testimony to indicate that some of the allegations “are taking us by surprise.”

As a result, Gordon questioned if the witness’ account was contained in a statement he had not received.
However, senior counsel for the Commission, Garth McBean, said that was not the case.

Tomlinson testified that after he saw the bomb, he became terrified and took his wife and three children to his mother’s house nearby.

Jamaica Gleaner