Tag: Corruption

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

Mexican Parents Frustrated With Government; Approaches The Cartel For Help In Finding 43 Missing Students

The Week That Was in Latin America Photo Gallery
Drawings of some of 43 missing rural college students are surrounded by flower petals, forming the shape of a heart, during a protest marking the six-month anniversary of their disappearance, in Mexico City. Photo: Associated Press

Some of the families of 43 college students missing in southern Mexico since September say desperation and a lack of confidence in the government drove them to appeal to the leader of a drug gang for help in locating their sons.

After months of investigation, Mexican officials concluded a different drug gang killed and incinerated the young men. But six months after the disappearance, and with only one of the missing identified through a bone fragment, parents are asking the leader of a rival gang to share what he knows. Continue reading “Mexican Parents Frustrated With Government; Approaches The Cartel For Help In Finding 43 Missing Students”