Ruling in King haircut case hits snag
Published:Friday | December 17, 2021 | 7:18 AM
A ruling from Jamaica’s chief prosecutor for a recommendation on whether anyone should be charged in relation to the alleged forcible haircut of a Rastafarian teenager at the Four Paths Police Station in Clarendon has suffered a delay.
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn had indicated that she would have made a ruling this week.
However, when contacted on Thursday, Llewellyn told The Gleaner that her office needed clarity on an aspect of the probe and has written to the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM).
The DPP said the team has gone through the commission’s report on the incident but is not yet in a position to complete the ruling.
“When we went through it and went through it again out of an abundance of caution, we decided that one area that needed clarity we will seek from the investigators to explore that particular line of enquiry and to give us their responses,” Llewellyn said.
The ruling from the DPP will propose whether the police will prefer criminal charges or disciplinary action.
The 19-year-old woman, Nzinga King, alleged that she was trimmed by a police corporal while in custody on July 22. The alleged haircut was purportedly done because King was reportedly deemed a suicide risk.
Rastafarian doctrine outlaws haircuts.
According to King, the alleged haircut resurrected memories of being gang-raped when she was 16.
Her story sparked national outrage about the continued treatment of the Afrocentric religious minority and about police abuse.
Police Commissioner Antony Anderson ordered investigators from the Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau to probe the matter but later turned over the investigation to INDECOM.
The police watchdog handed over the King file to the DPP on November 11.