Civilians shun Enquiry

By Omar Anderson, Staff Reporter

THE COMMISSION of Enquiry into the July 7-10 gunbattle in West Kingston is experiencing difficulty locating more than a dozen civilian witnesses to testify and said their names could be published in the press this week.

The Commission's Counsel, Velma Hylton, said yesterday that 16 persons who gave statements to Public Defender Howard Hamil-ton have not shown an interest in testifying.

"We have statements but none of them has signalled that they are going to turn up at the Commis-sion," she told The Gleaner. Mrs. Hylton said the civilian witnesses should have started giving evidence on Monday, October 8. She said she was therefore unable to set dates for them to appear before the Commission.

Mrs. Hylton said she would be asking the media to publish the names of the 16 witnesses to try and locate them. "I'm going to send out the letter ... it is already drafted," she emphasised.

In the meantime, Deputy Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Olivia "Babsy" Grange said yesterday that lawyers representing Opposition Leader Edward Seaga, Tivoli Gardens Councillor Des-mond McKenzie, and the Denham Town and Tivoli Gardens Citi-zens' Associations, will be meeting today to discuss whether they will be "returning to the Commission".

The lawyers walked out of the Enquiry on October 1 after Commission Chairman Justice Julius Isaac ruled they would not be entitled to cross-examine witnesses who did not mention their clients' names.

"Up to this point I don't think there's any intention [for them] to go back," Ms. Grange pointed out. She said she was unable to answer the question of whether the 16 civilian witnesses in question were being pressured not to appear before the Commission.

Mrs. Hylton said the Public Defender Mr. Hamilton, who collected the civilians' statements from the JLP's Desmond McKen-zie, has also been unable to contact the witnesses. Mr. Hamilton confirmed yesterday that himself and Dennis Daly, Q.C., one of the lawyers representing the office of the Public Defender, were finding it difficult contacting the witnesses. He said that he was relying on Mr. McKenzie to help locating them.

But Mr. McKenzie refused to discuss the matter yesterday. "I'm at a conference now and I can't speak on that," he said. Asked when he could be reached to discuss the issue, Mr. McKen-zie said: "No sir, don't call me back about it."

The Public Defender said he was trying his best to have the witnesses appear before the Commis-sion by next week. Mr. Hamilton asked that those witnesses contact Mr. Daly's office by 9:00 this morning. Failing that, he said, he would be submitting their names to the Commission for its assistance.

"We are definitely facing a difficulty getting our witnesses," Mr. Hamilton emphasised.

Before the JLP walk-out, attorney-at-law Abe Dabdoub was representing Mr. Seaga, attorney Patrick Atkinson represented Mr. McKenzie, and R.N.A. Henriques, Q.C., led a team of lawyers who represented the West Kingston citizens' associations.

Following Justice Isaac's ruling, Mr. Seaga and Mr. McKenzie filed a summons in the Supreme Court seeking leave to apply to the Judicial Review Court to challenge the ruling. Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe heard the application on October 8 and refused to grant leave. He said the applicants had failed to show any likely harm to them as a result of the ruling.

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