ELE U TOO LIE MON
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PRE DIS
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JAMAICA LEAK
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.
GOOD POINT!
Electronic fence needed between gangsterism and politics
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Diigo/FurlPublished On:Friday, June 10, 2011
ANYONE who has followed the rise and fall of Jamaica’s drug kingpin, Christopher “Dudus” Coke, or read KC Samuels’ account of Coke’s meteoric rise and eventual fall into the arms of a waiting “Uncle Sam”, should be grateful that the Bahamas’ own drug kingpin, “Ninety” Knowles, was eventually extradited to the US before he had time to consolidate his own growing empire.
By the time Dudus, who was born into a life of crime, had run his course, he was becoming more powerful even than the Jamaican government. However, before his saga is done, what might be revealed during his trial in the US, could well bring down the JLP government of Bruce Golding.
Dudus’ father, Jim Brown, who died mysteriously in a fire in his prison cell in Jamaica, was Prime Minister Edward Seaga’s man. Brown was a don who could be relied on to deliver the votes from Tivoli Gardens for Seaga’s Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Brown headed the Shower Posse and violence and bloodshed entered Jamaican politics. The politicians and hoodlums were too close for comfort right up to last year when “the President” – Dudus himself – challenged the prime minister, who under pressure had agreed his extradition to the US.
The don of Tivoli, who by this time had taken his father’s criminal enterprise and built it into an international empire, was receiving all the Jamaican government’s construction contracts, as well as collecting from his international drug-dealing enterprises. Over time he had built himself such a strong outpost that by the time the US government targeted him, he had an armed force ready to challenge his arrest. The residents of Tivoli barricaded themselves in to protect their don and opened fire on the forces sent to arrest him. By the time the armed forces had quelled the uprising, 74 Jamaicans, including a police officer, were dead, but Dudus was still on the run.
For more than a month Dudus eluded the authorities. When he was eventually caught, disguised in a woman’s wig, he waived his rights and agreed to be extradited to the US to face drugs and weapons charges.
Tivoli Gardens was former prime minister Edward Seaga’s stronghold. Seaga took care of the residents. Dudus, taking on his father’s mantle as head of the Posse, pushed the prime minister’s care and protection of Tivoli residents to a new level.
Dudus had two faces. To the people of Tivoli and all those who paid him homage he was a good man, a generous man, a man without blemish. However, to others he was a gangster, a crook, a drug and gun peddler – a threat to society. The Americans described him as a dangerous narcotics kingpin.
Golding’s government fought the extradition request. Golding explained that the attorney general and justice minister had refrained from signing Dudus’ extradition because the evidence as outlined by the US was obtained illegally. Eventually an embarrassed Golding, with calls for his resignation echoing in his ears, apologised and signed.
Here in the Bahamas, employing every delaying tactic in the courts, “Ninety” Knowles from his jail cell in Fox Hill prison, held the Americans at bay for six years. President George Bush had personally labeled him an international narcotics kingpin under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpins Designation Act. He was described as the head of a multinational drug organization and in the US was found guilty of drug conspiracy and sentenced to 28 years in a Florida prison. The jury recommended that his US$19.5 million in assets be forfeited to the US government.
However, Knowles’ extradition created a furor in Nassau, and even drew out placard-carrying demonstrators when then foreign affairs minister Fred Mitchell signed a warrant of surrender before Knowles had exhausted his legal appeals. The Court of Appeal recorded its “serious concern” at the manner that Knowles had been removed from the Bahamas.
However, legally right or wrong, it was the best decision for the Bahamas. Already Knowles, like Dudus, was building his little empire of supporters. He was generous with his ill-gotten gains, which he distributed liberally among the poor.
According to Wikileaks, a US diplomat wrote in November 2006 that Knowles’ extradition would lead to the “withdrawal of an important source of election funding.” Yes, Knowles was a menace to society.
But as Samuels concluded in his book “Jamaica’s first President – Dudus, 1992-2010” — “What needs to be realised here even more than anything else, is the deadly end result of politics and corruption. Duduses are a dime a dozen, hundreds have been born since he was extradited. He was not the first and he won’t be the last to face such a fate, and therein again is the problem — because if Jamaica is to move forward as a nation, and his type of behaviour is to be confined to the pages of history, then the line between gangsterism and politics must become an electronic fence.”
GOODMORNING
Confession of Sin – Why Do It?
Many of us have trouble with the concept of sin. It is difficult to accept that even when we are trying to be good, there are areas of our life that remain sinful. We may still harbor lusts, or tell lies, or make hurtful comments to others.
Hard as it is to accept our failures, it may be even harder to confess them – even privately in prayer to God. Clearly, however, that is what God requires:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Confession of Sin – What Does it Accomplish?
Confession of sin alone is not all that God requires. He asks that we repent, that we turn away from our sinful activities and turn instead to follow Him. Repentance can be defined as: “A turning away from sin, disobedience, or rebellion and a turning back to God. In a more general sense, repentance means a change of mind or a feeling of remorse or regret for past conduct. True repentance is a ‘godly sorrow’ for sin, an act of turning around and going in the opposite direction. This type of repentance leads to a fundamental change in a person’s relationship to God.”1
The Apostle Paul notes this in Acts 3:19-20:
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you – even Jesus.”
Repentance doesn’t mean we become perfect. God understands that even at our best, we may backslide at times. However, every time we seek His forgiveness, we will receive it.
Confession of Sin – The Outcome
There is even better news for those who have learned to confess their sins, to repent and to turn to God.
The Bible says Jesus Himself will come to our aid.
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).
When sins are forgiven by God, the Bible says that God does not hold those sins against us. Psalm 103:11-12 says, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Since God forgives us, we are called to forgive others. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
BUJU SEEKS SHORTER TERM
Jamaican Grammy winner Buju Banton asks for shorter jail sentence in drug trafficking case
By The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Fri, 10 Jun, 2011
TAMPA, Fla. – Jamaican reggae singer Buju Banton is asking for a shorter prison sentence.
The Grammy winner was convicted in February of conspiring to set up a cocaine deal in Florida in 2009. He faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison at his sentencing hearing June 23 in Tampa federal court.
In court documents filed Thursday, Banton’s attorney, David Markus, says a 15-year-sentence is “way more than necessary” in Banton’s case.
He contends that Banton’s limited participation in the drug buy, his charitable work in Jamaica and his otherwise clean record entitle the singer to a reduced sentence.
The documents include letters of support for Banton from actor Danny Glover, reggae singer Stephen Marley and Atlanta Hawks basketball player Etan Thomas.
Banton also seeks an acquittal and a new trial.
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