IN JAMAICA: Questions raised over 18 bodies found at May Pen Cemetery...

BY PAUL HENRY Coordinator - Crime/Court Desk henryp@jamaicaobserver.com  Friday, July 03, 2015 

PATHOLOGIST reports from evidence presented to the Tivoli Commission of Enquiry seem to have run counter to evidence by the security forces as to the time of death of some 18 bodies found in May Pen cemetery.

Dudus

Lt Col David Cummings testified yesterday that the bodies in the cemetery seemed to have been dumped there before the start of the security operation on May 24, 2010 to apprehend Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

The police had also suggested, prior to this, that the bodies were those of people killed in Tivoli Gardens prior to the start of the operation because they refused to co-operate with criminals loyal to Coke.

But yesterday, Lord Anthony Gifford, the Queen's Counsel appearing for the Office of the Public Defender, put to Cummings that the pathologist reports suggested that the 18, with the exception of one, were killed on the 24th and the 25th of May 2010. He said he didn't know.

Cummings agreed with commission chairman Sir David Simmons that it would be highly unlikely for a private vehicle with bodies to leave Tivoli to dump them in the cemetery, given the fact that the security forces controlled the area.

Cummings gave evidence earlier yesterday that a surveillance system was found by soldiers inside the community of Tivoli Gardens after the security forces launched the May 24, 2010 operation to apprehend Coke.

Cummings, who was in charge of the Jamaica Defence Force's Engineer Unit at the time, testified that the system was found at a home at 15A DC Avenue after Coke left the community.

He explained that the surveillance system, connected to a large flat screen, allowed for the monitoring of the entire Tivoli Gardens area and the various approaches to the community.

Cummings, who gave the testimony during his evidence-in-chief led by attorney Linton Gordon, said the equipment was turned over to the police. But Simmons commented that he hadn't heard of this from the senior members of the police force who already gave evidence.

Cummings said soldiers who were with him also found extradition papers in relation to Coke at his "Presidential Click" office in the community. He added that the document was marked "Federal Grand Jury of New York". more