C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 002728

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR (BENT), INL/LP (BOZZOLO)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2015
TAGS: PREL KCRM SNAR JM
SUBJECT: SIX POLICE OFFICERS ON TRIAL FOR MURDER

Classified By: Ambassador Johnson. Reason 1.5(d)

Summary:

¶1. (C) In late November, six Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF)
officers, all members of the now disbanded Crime Management
Unit, were put on trial for the unlawful killing of four
people at a home in Crawle, Clarendon in May 2003. Chief
Judge Lensley Wolfe ruled that the prosecution failed to make
a prima facie case against three of the officers and ordered
the jury to release them. Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark
Shields advised NAS Director on December 16 that he believes
that all of the officers are going to “beat the rap.”
Political Ombudsman, Bishop Herro Blair also advised NAS
Director that he had no faith in the judicial system and
based on what he felt was the prosecution’s inability to try
the case, the officers would be back on duty in no time. End
Summary.

———-
The Trial
———-

¶2. (U) Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Senior Superintendent
Reneto Adams, corporals Shenie Lyons, Patrick Coke and
constables Devon Bernard, Leford Gordon and Roderick Collier
are on trial for the May 7, 2003 murder of four persons,
namely, Angella Richards, Lewina Thompson, Kirk Gordon and
Matthew Jones. Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe and a
twelve-member jury are hearing the case. On December 12,
Wolfe found that the prosecution failed to make a prima facie
case against Constables Bernard and Collier and Corporal
Gordon and ordered the jury to release them. The case
against the remaining three officers is expected to be
completed early this week.

¶3. (U) According to the officers’ testimony, they went to
Crawle in search of Bashington “Chen-Chen” Douglas, who was
wanted for a number of crimes, including murder. The police
alleged they were fired upon by men in the house and the
police returned the fire and four people were killed during
the shootout. However, neighbors contradicted the police by
alleging the victims were killed in cold blood. The Director
of Public Prosecutions (DPP) told the court that the
policemen traveled in a disguised vehicle and after staking
out the house, returned later and opened fire on the
occupants. Director of the DPP, Kent Pantry stated that
forensic evidence showed that three victims were shot by one
gun. Pantry also stated that the evidence showed that shots
were only fired from outside the house to the inside.

¶4. (U) Shanice Stoddart, the 11-year old daughter of victim
Lewina Thompson was a key prosecution witness. Stoddart
testified at the trial that she and Angella Richards were
hiding under a bed in the house when a police officer removed
Stoddart from the house. The officer put Stoddart in the
yard and told her to look away from the house. Stoddart
testified that after officers went back into the house she
heard Angella Richards begging for her life and shots fired.

¶5. (U) Jack Craine, a forensic pathologist and professor at
Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, testified that
the wounds sustained by the victims were not typical of those
caused by a shoot-out. Rather, the wounds were consistent
with having been shot in a controlled way. In addition,
Craine stated that there was a possibility that victims
Richard and Gordon were shot while lying on the floor.

¶6. (U) Danhai Williams, a controversial “business man” and
People’s National Party (PNP) activist, was scheduled to
testify on behalf of the prosecution that he provided the
police officers with the unregistered gun allegedly planted
at the crime scene. Williams was expected to give evidence
in support of the prosecution’s claim that Adams planted a
gun on one of the dead victims. Williams did not appear at
trial and through a statement made by his attorneys claimed
that he was being harassed by the police and chose not to
make himself available for testimony as it would have caused
him to lie in open court. (Note: Williams, who is currently
facing charges of defrauding the GOJ in an unrelated housing
construction scheme, is a U.S. green card holder. Post
believes, however, that Williams has effectively abandoned
his LPR status and we are consulting DHS accordingly.)

¶7. (C) Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields is a
28-year-veteran of the London Metropolitan Police and was
seconded to the JCF as deputy commissioner in charge of crime
in March. Shields was also the lead investigator in the
Crawle case in 2003. During a December 16 meeting with
Shields, he stated that he believed all of the officers would
“beat the rap” and that it would be a major turning point for
Jamaica. He expressed disdain for Adams and stated that it
was his personal and professional opinion that Adams is a
“killer.” He lamented that if Adams is found not guilty and
put back on front-line duty, that Shields would resign the
force immediately and return to the UK. Shields stated that
he could not “work with someone he knew killed four people in
cold blood.”

¶8. (C) In addition, Shields stated that although he does not
have hard evidence, he believes Adams is behind some of the
threats that he has received on his life. Shields speculated
that even if Adams were to be found not guilty he could be
dismissed from the JCF “for the good of the service.”
Shields noted that with the overwhelming amount of evidence
against him, it would be in the best interests of Jamaica if
he were let out of the force. Shields also alleged that
prosecution witness Danhai Williams was not afraid to appear
in court as he claimed. Shields opined that Williams has a
lot of backing within the PNP as well as within the JCF and
noted that Williams did not reappear until after the defense
closed its case and that he found that the timing was more
than mere coincidence.

¶9. (C) Peace activist and Political Ombudsman, Bishop Herro
Blair also advised NAS Director on December 17 that he had no
faith in the judicial system and based on what he felt was
the prosecution’s inability to try the case, the officers
would be back on duty in no time. Blair also alleged that
Danhai Williams was not under any threat when he failed to
appear in court and corroborated Shields’ statement by
stating that Williams has “too much political power to have
to testify”. Blair stated that if no one is found guilty in
this case, it would be the “go-ahead for vigilantism.”

——–
Comment
——–

¶10. (C) According to Amnesty International, only one police
officer has been found guilty of unlawful killing in the last
six years in Jamaica. Piers Bannister, the London-based
researcher on Amnesty’s North American team is quoted in the
Observer on June 20 as saying “The police in Jamaica are
immune from effective prosecution and are allowed to carry
out killings with impunity…” Bannister has predicted that
all six police officers will walk and will resume their jobs
soon. As of now, Bannister is half right.

¶11. (C) There is a general distrust by many in Jamaica of the
police and the judicial system in general. Some in garrison
communities are fearful of police and see the police as an
enemy. It is likely that the impunity with which police
officers seem to operate in Jamaica contributes to this
sentiment. Until officers are held accountable for extra
judicial killings, the public distrust of the police and the
judicial system will persevere. This lack of faith likely
contributes to the periodic incidents of mob killings, where
many people feel the only justice they will see is that which
they mete out themselves against criminal oppressors. End
Comment.

Hi Gwarren how are you?

Africa: The Economic Slave

31 March 2012, 22:29

Each person I have spoken to concerning the state of our continents economies seems to allude to the one thing, bad governance.
But let’s critically look at the countries in Africa, not everyone is doing badly, there are some countries that are in actual fact far from the poverty line.
The fairly knowledgeable individual will most definitely indicate to those countries natural resources but what about DRC, Senegal, Guinea, Angola and Nigeria. Undeniably leadership is one and I repeat one key element. When you study the history books closely you come to see that slavery was not orchestrated by one country, upon a closer look there were other nations apart from the United Kingdom and United States of America.
These nations include France, Germany, Italy, Austria and several other European countries that played a “joint” part in enslaving us. My point is not to open freshly healed wounds but it’s to express the collaboration of nations to achieve a single goal, something that we have failed to see and emulate. When you look at individuals like Bob Mugabe (one of my favourites) Juju (all passion and no direction) Gaddafi (A brilliant mind turned savage) and few others we don’t have time for, you notice there is a shared vision of bringing Africa to point where we are no longer dependant on any one (not just the west).
The sad part of this story is the pathetic execution of this economic liberation vision that has not only humiliated the parties involved but has also taken us several paces back due to the fear that has been instilled in those that have tried to achieve this on their own, which is nothing short of insulting.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince people he doesn’t exist and in this case the notion that keeping African countries dependant on the west so that they can plunder our resources is just a conspiracy theory for people with an over active imagination is the very tool that keeps us blinded.
Nothing in this world happens by coincidence nor by chance, the one thing humans have in common is the desire to foresee the future and those that manipulate it can control the world, hence in a time when we have machines that can predict the weather months in advance, an element that is completely independent of manipulation, I don’t think matters of economic dominance can be left to chance, I sincerely hope you are not that naïve.
If we are to even consider an uprising worthy of a fight for economic freedom or just to open negotiations with the “imperialist” governments we need to cross a lot of things off our primary needs, water for one, hunger, education the list of things is not unachievable individually but can be done quickly as a unit. Am not one to preach Africa should becoming one country (at least not yet) what I am saying is no man is an island and 52 now 53 sets of hands can achieve a lot in short period of time.
What I find ridiculous is we are arguing yellow books when the last yellow fever outbreak in the USA was in 1905. Even as am writing this I find we shouldn’t even bother talking about economic freedom when we cannot facilitate cross border trade, for example in 2007 Kenya alone imported 30,000 vehicles from Japan why? when South Africa manufactures cars.
Let’s take page from our Asian counter parts, most of the countries succeeding right now generally have the same economic structure, problems and even the same governance issues as Africa but their ability get past their minor differences and learn from each and develop as a region has accelerated their development tenfold, even mortal enemies like Japan and china are able to sit at one table and negotiate trade agreements. Our fore fathers would weep at the sight of our continents state, we bathe in pride and arrogance with no hesitation to fling useless insults at each other.
More than once we were able to put heads together to rid ourselves of slavery and again to be free of colonialism and apartheid, why can’t we unite for the betterment of our future? As the famous strategy applied by the roman army states “you are only as weak as the person standing next to you”, the wealth one country enjoys is short lived due the neighbour’s short fall, need an example? Look at South Africa and Zimbabwe’s relationship. There are many more cases like that on this beloved land. We have brilliant minds on this continent that are being wasted, let’s get a few those people and see what they can come up with TOGETHER, I promise we won’t be disappointed.

BIG UP TO DI TWO BREDDA DEM…ONE A YARD AND ABROAD WAITING PAN HIM TIME SHEET.. BIG UP DI GOVERNMENT WHEY DEM HAVE DI BIG SECRET FAH WHEY NEVA TALK WHY DI WHOLE A CAMP AND JCF DID TUN UP INSIDE A DI PRISON …BIG UP DI BREDDA WHEY DID GO HIDE AND NEVA GET KETCH AND HIM LIFE GET FI SPARE AND A BEG A LIKKLE LESS TIME NOW AND CAN GET DI LESS TIME BECAUSE WITNESS DEAD OFF AND ONLY ONE LEF AND ALL DESE TINGS…MEK DI REASON DI SENTENCING DATE HAFFI A PUSH BACK AND BACK..BIG UP DI LAWYER WHEY SEH DAT YUH DONT HAVE DI EVIDENCE ON MY CLIENT SUH YUH CYAA GI HIM NOT A 23 YEARS PLUS HIM DONE GI YUH DI VERY SHINE GOLD COIN WHEY UNO MEK RESIGN AND DI OTHER ONE WHEY SUPPOSED TO COME TO DI US VERY SHORTLY…BIG UP DI LAWYER BECAUSE A HIM SEH LESS TIME FI HIM CLIENT …ZEEN! STICK A PIN STRETCH OUT A HAND AND SHAKE OFF DI DI WORLD WID BIG BIG ORGANIZATION WHEY GWAAN LIKE SEH DEM A WORK WID DI JCF AND HAVE DI VIDEO A DI TINGS DEM MEK DI BIG DEPUTY A GO RESIGN VERY SOON… BIG UP DI ORGANIZATION WHEY GO INA DI PLACE AND DASH IT OUT SEH… BIG BIG HIT DID SEND ON INA DI PRISON FI KILL DI NEXT BREDDA DAS WHY DEM BEAT OUT HIM HEAD AND TINK HIM DEAD BIG UP TO DI GUN WHEY DEM CUDDEN FIRE FI KILL DI BREDDA WHEY GO PAN DI STRETCHER WHEY JUMP UP AND SEH ”THANK GOD ALMIGHTY IM ALIVE” YES MAN BIG UP EVERYBADDIE BECAUSE JAMAICA POLICE INA NUFF BANGA-WRONGS NOW BECAUSE A MINISTER SEND DEM OUT FI GUH PUT OUT AND NOTHING NEVA PUT OUT …NOW DEM JOB IS IN DOUBT…READ CAREFULLY MI SEH!

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