THREE Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers are set to testify in the Tivoli Enquiry next week that they witnessed police officers killing civilians in Tivoli Gardens during the May 2010 West Kingston operation to apprehend then area don Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
Yesterday’s morning session of the enquiry was closed to the public as lawyers deliberated on how to treat with the soldiers’ explosive evidence.
According to a source, Commission Chairman Sir David Simmons ruled that the soldiers would testify from an undisclosed location via a video link.
The soldiers’ voices are expected to be distorted and their identities withheld.
When the enquiry reopened to the public in the afternoon, attorney Debra Martin, a lawyer for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), was overheard voicing concerns over the soldiers’ names being withheld from lawyers when the contents of their statement are disclosed to the public.
Meanwhile, Tivoli Gardens resident Shauna James testified yesterday that she witnessed “bombs” being dropped in the community during the police/military operation.
In tears, she testified that a policeman used expletives at her and other residents and told them all of them should die when they complained about smoke coming into a house in which they were holed up.
The witness was, however, challenged by attorneys Valerie Neita-Robertson, another lawyer for the JCF, and Linton Gordon, one of the attorneys for the JDF, who pointed out that she said nothing about inappropriate police behaviour and the ‘bombs’ in her statement.
James insisted she was being truthful.
The enquiry continues today at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.