JDF moves to clarify reports on 'Livity' beating

[Mosiah]

Indecom should continue with its investigation.

I find it odd though that these high profile thugs are the ones who are complaining about abuse. Are their lawyers behind this?

Of course, it is possible that because they are high-profile and responsible for many deaths and much mayhem they are being picked upon by the security forces.

I don't know the truth. It could be a little bit of everything. But Forumites please don't misunderstand my position. Not all beatings are unjustified, But I know how our security forces are sometimes where they believe they should beat people just because they can.

[Gamma]

so was jim brown

[1of1]

suh him is only half a crack head

[Hortical]

Can we get an investigation regarding the killing of DJ Kentucky Kid. The artist was killed after he recorded a video of himself being brutally assaulted by members of the JCF, and after he filed a complaint at the Ministry of National Security.

[Skeng DX]

livity is 6-6 and have a big body

with a deep voice (them seh on the radio)

nuh winder him feel hi coulda beat up the guards

[Bricktop]

Threaded view...try it sometime

[Skeng DX]

Hunger strike at Horizon Remand Centre

There's a new development involving several reputed gang members being housed at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre in Kingston. Less than a day after news surfaced that the Independent Commission of Investigations , had been called in to probe the alleged assault of five men being housed at the maximum security facility, word has come that all or some of the same group of prisoners have embarked on a hunger strike.

News of the hunger strike was revealed Tuesday afternoon when the leader of the Stone Crusher Gang, Eldon Calvert failed to appear before the Home Circuit Court.

Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn told the court that she was informed by JDF officials that Calvert was among a group of prisoners who have refused to eat and are now on hunger strike. The prisoners are housed at Sector eleven, which houses several men who've been designated high profile gang members.

It is this section of the facility which come under a probe by INDECOM and state officials This after accusations that Tesha Miller, Christopher "Dog Paw" Linton, Joel Andem, Kevin "Richie Poo" Tyndale and Michael McLean were allegedly assaulted last month by Jamaica Defence Force soldiers. The area is manned by JDF personnel. According to our source as a precautionary measure JDF personnel have been videotaping their attempts to provide meals to the prisoners. This is being done to debunk any claims that meals are deliberately being withheld as a form of punishment.v Efforts to reach Acting Commissioner of Corrections Lieutenant Colonel Sean Prendergast were unsuccessful as he was reportedly in a meeting.

[Rudi]

Interesting. Sounds like the line up of the Duppy-maker all-stars. In my country they wouldn't be..... my look at the time.

[Skeng DX]

Profile of the hunger strikers

THE five high-risk inmates at the New Horizon Remand Centre — whose claims of being brutalised have sparked a probe by the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) and outcries by human rights groups and defense attorneys — have been convicted for serious crimes, including multiple murder, shootings and gun possession.

The five — Joel Andem, Kevin 'Richie Poo' Tyndale, Michael McLean, Christopher 'Dog Paw' Linton and Leighton 'Livety' Coke — are currently on a hunger strike in protest over what they claim to be vicious beatings handed out to them by Jamaica Defense Force soldiers who man the high-risk security post 11.
The five had last week written to the Supreme Court outlining the beatings they were subjected to.
However, prison officials have countered by describing them as dangerous criminals.
Below are the details of their convictions and charges:

Joel Andem was for years the nation's most feared fugitive, topping the most wanted list for months. The leader of the notorious Gideon Warriors Gang is currently serving a 20-year sentence for shooting with intent.
Andem, who police suspect was involved in at least 23 murders, was also sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment at hard labour on a charge of illegal possession of a firearm. In addition, he was slapped with another 20-year prison sentence in relation to other gun-related charges.

Andem's gang, which operated primarily from the hilly Kintyre area of St Andrew, was blamed for a reign of terror in the Papine/August Town districts of the parish and for extortion rackets at markets and transportation centres.
Gang members have been also accused of robberies, rapes and killings, including the August 2000 kidnapping and murder of service station operator Sylvia Edwards, whose body was found in a shallow grave.

The Gideon Warriors gang came to national prominence in early 2002 when the police, during a raid at their camp at Rawly Hill Gully — seven kilometres from Kintyre — found video recordings of Andem and his men, armed with high-powered rifles and other weapons, hosting a Christmas treat for children in the community and frolicking with each other.

The recording also showed gang members issuing threats against the police.
In the wake of the discovery of that recording as well as a notebook containing names which the police feared were would-be victims, several gang members were killed in confrontations with the police and Andem was eventually captured at a house in the hills of St Ann, last May.
This is the second time that Andem has accused prison officials of beating him.

In 2008, an investigation was launched after Andem complained to Justice Gloria Smith at the Gun Court that a dozen soldiers had beaten him that day. The beating, he said then, happened after he refused to go with them to an upper cell, which made him sick.
According to Andem, he has been suffering severe headaches and stomach pains since the alleged incident, which had also seen him dragged up a flight of stairs to the cell.
Andem's second in command, Kevin 'Richie Poo' Tyndale, was also collared in a rural St James village, tried and sentenced to a total of 90 years on gun-related, wounding and robbery charges.
But because the sentences on the three counts are to run concurrently, Tyndale will serve only 30 years.

Police also said Tyndale is a suspect in several other major crimes, including robbery and the murder of the August 2003 murder of Jervis Lobban in Mud Town, St Andrew another stomping ground for the Gideon Warriors gang.
He was convicted for the 2003 shooting and robbery of an August Town, St Andrew, businessman who was shot six times and his jewellery and licensed firearm taken.

According to the police and the evidence led in the closed court proceedings, as the businessman lay wounded, Tyndale stood over him and shot him at point blank range in the head. The businessman survived and was able to identify Tyndale as one of his attackers. The man still has a bullet lodged in his head.

Tyndale denied the allegations and told the court that he was at home at the time of the shooting.

Police claimed he was the gang's second in command until Andem's capture. According to police claims at the time, Tyndale wet his pants, sniffled and begged not to be killed at the time of his capture.

At the time of his arrest cops said Tyndale was a suspect in 19 other major crimes, including murder, shootings and robberies. Police believe he shot and killed 56 year-old Ena Grant and injured another woman as they worshipped at a church in Land Lease, St Andrew.

Scared eyewitnesses on the scene said the assassin went to the altar as the pastor preached and was warmly greeted by the man of cloth before he took out his gun and aimed it at Grant. The armed man pulled the trigger twice but his gun jammed and Grant valiantly tried to use her Bible to hit the weapon from her attacker's hand. She almost disarmed him, a church member said.
"The gun stick and the people start bawl out 'The blood of Jesus is upon you'. She used her bible and lick him and the gun drop," the eyewitness told the Observer at the time.

But the gunman, determined that Grant must die, simply went outside, fixed his jammed weapon and walked back into the house of worship where he pumped three shots into her body.
Grant was shot just over her right eye and armpit. When the Observer arrived, her lifeless body was still on the church floor. Her glasses, minus the right lens, were perched on her face and her Bible was trapped beneath her body.
The murders of 20 year-old Kimona Simpson, her 24 year-old common-law husband Richard Miller, and her nine year-old son Tevin Parchment were also suspected to be the work of Tyndale and his cronies.
Michael McLean has been accused of the killing of six members of a St Thomas family — three of them children no older than nine years old.
The murdered family members were identified as three-year-old Lloyd McCool, Jhaid McCool, 6, Jessie Ogilvie, 9, Sean Chin, 8, Farika Martin-McCool, 27 and Terry-Ann Mohammed, also called 'Teenie', 42. They all lived at 49 Duhaney Pen Road in the parish.
Police reported that fishermen on the Blue Mahoe Beach in Prospect stumbled upon the bodies of two children — Lloyd and Jessie — lying together with their throats cut.
The bodies of Martin-McCool and her son Sean were found about a half-mile away, on the other side of the beach called 'Cutters Point'. Their throats were also cut and Martin-McCool had several stab wounds in her back. Cops suspected that Martin-McCool was running away from her attacker as she was found lying on her face about 22 yards from her son's body.

Terry-Ann Mohammed's body was found 12 miles away on the side of a footpath in Needham Pen. It was burnt beyond recognition. Police said the body was identified by a pair of slippers she was wearing.

Police said five days after the murders, McLean led them to the body of Jhaid McCool at Rosemont district, St Mary. The child's body was found covered by a piece of board.

Both Linton and Coke are facing charges of shooting at the police and suspected involvement in other serious crimes.


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1nnFeWwrN

[Skeng DX]

JFJ: Remove soldiers from Horizon Centre

Human rights lobby group, Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), wants members of the military to be removed from manning the Horizon Adult Remand Centre, following allegations that soldiers abused five inmates at the facility.

According to Executive Director of JFJ, Dr. Carolyn Gomes, soldiers are not properly trained to deal with prisoners.

She said highly trained correctional officers and not military personnel should be put in place to monitor high risk and dangerous inmates.

Dr. Gomes said soldiers should not be asked to do jobs they are not trained to do.

The human rights lobbyist is also taking issue with the treatment of inmates, who have not yet been found guilty of the crimes they are accused of committing.

The inmates who have filed complaints with the court are reputed gang leaders Tesha Miller and Joel Andem, gang member Christopher Linton, Kevin Tyndale alias Richie Poo and Michael McLean.

The complaints were filed after the Gleaner reported that Leighton ‘Livity’ Coke, the brother of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, had been allegedly beaten by soldiers in prison.

However, the military and the Department of Corrections have spoken out in defence of the soldiers saying the inmates are dangerous and are doing everything to have themselves removed from JDF custody and incorporated into the general prison system.

[1of1]

suh him is only half a crack head

[Bricktop]

Are you in threaded view? Try it and then look at who i was responding to

[1of1]

suh him is only half a crack head

[Gamma]

How shi mean? Dem thugs declare war on society suh who better than the soldiers to deal with them?

[Mosiah]

Not sure our correction officers are trained to deal with these thugs wither, Doc. Maybe the soldiers are our best option.

As for their hunger strike, should we give a damn?