By Balford Henry, Staff Reporter 
FIVE JAMAICA Labour Party (JLP) officials, including Opposition Leader Edward Seaga, have been subpoenaed to appear before the West Kingston Commission of Enquiry.
The other officials are Deputy Leader Derrick Smith, Senator Ryan Peralto, Senator James Robertson and Councillor Desmond McKenzie of Tivoli Gardens.
JLP Deputy Leader Olivia Grange confirmed yesterday that the five had been subpoenaed. However, she said that no decision has been taken yet, as how they will react. She also admitted that the matter was likely to be discussed at last night's meeting of the party's Standing Committee.
Lawyers representing Mr. Seaga, Councillor McKenzie and the Denham Town and Tivoli Gardens Citizens Associations walked out of the enquiry on October 1. This followed a ruling by the Chairman of the Commission Justice Julius Isaac, that cross-examination by those representing Mr. Seaga and Councillor McKenzie would be limited to evidence in which their names were called.
FAILED BID
The lawyers failed in their bid to get an order from the Supreme Court to appeal against the Commission's ruling. A summons filed in the Supreme Court seeking leave to apply to the Judicial Review Court to challenge the Commissioners' ruling was rejected by Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe. The Chief Justice said that the lawyers failed to show any likely arm to them as a result of the ruling.
They subsequently withdrew permanently from the Commission. But there have been indications recently, that there could be some softening of positions which would lead to the re-entry of the JLP-affiliated lawyers.
Yesterday, the Commission watched Television Jamaica's (TVJ) edited footage of their coverage of the developments in West Kingston on the morning of July 7, which left 27 people dead.
The footage showed mainly events in Tivoli Gardens, including an interview with Mr. Seaga, during which he said he had heard there was a threat to kill him that day. It also showed the situation at the command post at the Coronation Market, from which the security forces fired at alleged snipers in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town. The unedited version is still in the possession of TVJ freelance cameraman, Oral Napier, who reported ill yesterday.
POLICE EVIDENCE
The Commission also heard evidence about photographs of bullet impressions shot by police photographers in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town on July 31.
Superintendent Calvin Benjamin, head of the homicide squad of the CIB, told the Enquiry that they took pictures of over 200 bullet impressions seen on buildings in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town, including 34 on the wall of the office of Tivoli Gardens Councillor Desmond McKenzie.
The viewing followed evidence from TVJ's reporter, Carol Francis, one of the earliest media persons on the scene on July 7. Another expected media witness, Mark Wignall, was not present and neither was there any indication that he would have been called yesterday.
Miss Francis told the Commission that she went to West Kingston with her cameraman after three callers to the television station, including two Jamaica Labour Party supporters, said there was shooting in the area and that Mr. Seaga was there trying to calm things down.
GUNSHOTS DURING PRESS CONFERENCE
She told the Commission of an impromptu press conference held by Mr. Seaga inside the Tivoli Gardens community centre, while explosions were still being heard outside the building. The TVJ news team had by then been joined by a CVM news crew led by Milton Walker. Miss Francis said at one stage, she called the Opposition Leader aside for an exclusive interview centred around the alleged threats on his life by the security forces that morning.
She said that she had been informed by one of Mr. Seaga's bodyguards that he had heard a police radio transmission, threatening the Opposition Leader's life.
She asked Mr. Seaga if he had heard of the threats and he said, yes, but that he would be waiting, he was not running away.
Miss Francis said that she and the other newspersons were taken to the house where a young girl was shot in the leg by a bullet which penetrated the wall of her apartment, allegedly fired from the direction of the command post at Coronation Market. She said she saw blood on the mattress and the hole through which the bullet allegedly travelled. However, she said that they had to run from the building after it was shaken by a loud explosion. She heard a number of shots, but couldn't say exactly where they were coming from.
They next travelled to the command post via Industrial Terrace, Pechon and Darling streets. She said that the security forces were reluctant to open the gate to the post, but after they banged on the gate they were allowed to drive in. Inside, she saw a number of armed policemen in a combat mood, some without bullet-proof vests or helmets. One policeman stuck two bullets into his ears, apparently to block the sound.
She heard gunfire, but couldn't say whether it was coming from the post or not. She said she saw Senior Superintendent of Police Reneto Adams sitting on the floor inside the post, and eventually she interviewed him.
Commissioner Garnett Brown asked Miss Francis whether the blood she saw on the mattress was "fresh blood." She said yes, it was not a blood stain. She said that she did not see the young girl, whom she understood had been taken to hospital, nor was she shown the bullet which had penetrated the building, as the news teams had to run from the building after the loud explosion.
SUPERVISED PHOTOGRAPHY
Superintendent Benjamin in his evidence said he had been directed by Assistant Commissioners Donald Brown and Arthur Martin to supervise the photographing of specific areas of West Kingston.
He said that on July 31 he went with a team to Tivoli Gardens, to take the pictures of a number of high-rise buildings and other residences and walls apparently hit by bullets. He did a similar exercise in Bond and Charles streets in Denham Town. The majority of bullet impressions in Denham Town were found on the wall of the building housing Councillor McKenzie's office.
He said that he eventually spoke to Councillor McKenzie who had agreed to help him to get people with missing relatives to go to the morgue to identify the bodies and to attend the post mortems, and this was done.
However, he said that he did not get a similar level of co-operation from the Councillor in securing statements from victims and other people in the two areas.
