OPPOSITION Leader Edward Seaga's decision not to answer questions put to him by the commissioners investigating the July 2001 slayings in West Kingston has forced the investigators to lean their findings heavily on the account of the security forces, The Sunday Gleaner has learnt.It is understood that lead commissioner, Justice Julius Isaacs, has handed over the final draft of the report three months after the end of the enquiry.
"Yes, the draft is here, but not yet ready for release," a source close to the enquiry disclosed. Whenever they are made public, however, the findings like the investigations, promise to be encased in controversy.
Recently, Amnesty International expressed concern about the way in which the enquiry was conducted, but said it would not issue a statement until the findings were released.
The human rights watchdog group said it was unhappy about certain aspects of the enquiry, particularly that there were no independent investigators. The commission relied entirely on the police, who were themselves being investigated, researcher Piers Bannister said from Amnesty's London office.
Local attorney-at-law Earl Witter, one of two lawyers who appeared for the Public Defender in the enquiry, said during the enquiry that there was a possibility that the country would never know the truth about what happened in West Kingston, July 7-10 last year. He said it would be an "everlasting pity" that the commission heard only one side of the story, because no civilians (from West Kingston) testified.
Civilian witnesses who were identified by the Public Defender's office and who had pro-mised to testify later refused, citing fear of retaliation from the police.
Mr. Witter also said during the enquiry that he had found the evidence of the security forces "quite orchestrated" and that the soldiers exemplified the precision of a "drill square", while the police were "predictably fault-free".
He also found it "truly remarkable" that the police ballistics expert was unable to link any of the (more than 300) security forces guns he tested, with any of the fatal bullets retrieved from the scene.
During the sittings which lasted several months, police ballistic expert, Deputy Superintendent Fred Hibbert, was unable to provide the West Kingston Enquiry with any of the "definitive" evidence it was seeking on the killings. According to him, very few bullets were recovered from the bodies, because bullets from the high-powered weapons which were involved do not lodge in the body.
