THE FAILURE of victims of the July 7-10 violence in West Kingston to testify at the recently concluded Commission of Enquiry is not catastrophic, says Public Defender Howard Hamilton Q.C.
"Their interest can still be vindicated in the court, just like the interest of the dead persons who, obviously, couldn't give evidence," Mr. Hamilton said Friday.
Mr. Hamilton also said that he had accepted the position of his legal team at the Commission of Enquiry not to make final submissions. Chairman of the Commis-sion, Julius Isaac, wrote the lawyers stating that although he would have welcomed their final submissions, "as the icing on the cake," he accepted their position.
Mr. Hamilton said that he had accepted that the team of Dennis Daly Q.C. and Earl Witter withdrawal from the enquiry after it moved into areas beyond the July 7-10 security forces operation in West Kingston, which killed 27 people.
He had required that they return to make their final submissions, but he eventually agreed with the decision of Mr. Daly that they could not be of any further help to the Commission and therefore, would not be making any final submissions.
Mr. Hamilton dismissed any suggestion that fees were the source of the lawyers withdrawal. He said that although prompt payment of their fees may have been a problem at one stage of the proceedings, all payments had been settled.
He refused to comment on the closing submission by counsel for the Commission, Velma Hylton, until the Commission presents its final report. Ms. Hylton said she saw nothing wrong with the security forces shooting at women and children if they were "shielding" gunmen.
Mr. Hamilton's office represented a number of the victims of the violence, all of whom refused to testify after the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) withdrew from the enquiry.
