Preserve crime scenes - Witter
Published:Friday | June 4, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter
A frustrated Earl Witter, Jamaica's public defender who is probing alleged extrajudicial killings by the security forces in Tivoli Gardens, has expressed disappointment that potential crime scenes were not being preserved.
He wants immediate steps to be taken to identify and preserve all such areas to facilitate a forensic evaluation.
Witter called on the hierarchy of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to treat these scenes in the same manner as the house of uptowner Keith Clarke, who was killed by the security forces on May 27.
"As allegations go, there are enough similarities in East Kirkland Heights in Mr Clarke's case and allegations prior to that of extrajudicial killings in west Kingston last week, so we don't see why it should be treated differently," Witter told The Gleaner yesterday.
Witter also said that except for some 25 firearms, the police have not secured other weapons used by lawmen for ballistic testing and examination.
The public defender has recommended that all weapons used in operations be removed from service and the identities of personnel who used them duly recorded.
"The integrity of that process would be severely compromised, if not rendered useless, unless all weapons used at times contemporaneous to the infliction of fatal injuries are, in fact, examined by ballistics experts," the release read.
Efforts by The Gleaner to contact JCF spokesman Karl Angell for a response proved futile up to press time as calls to his cellphone went unanswered.
Info given to bsi
Witter also said that he had fulfilled a promise to furnish the Bureau of Special Investigations with a chart detailing the venues, names and, where possible, the identities of deceased persons, the names of witnesses and other contacts and their relationships to those killed.
In the meantime, Witter told The Gleaner that his office has received more than 500 complaints from residents. The majority of the complaints, he said, centred on abuse and excessive force by soldiers and the police. He said about 15 of the complaints alleged extrajudicial killings by law enforcement.
Thirty-five of the 73 civilian casualties have been identified so far, the Ministry of National Security said last night.