192 / 494
191
8.82.
During the course of Ms. McFarlane’s evidence, we saw
18 photographs of the inside of the house. They told a gruesome story of
slaughter in the house.
8.83.
Ms. McFarlane said that, in addition to losing her son and nephew,
she lost all of the goods which she had brought from Panama on the Friday
before the internal security operation. She gave an estimate of $4 -5 million of
loss and damage. She received compensation totalling $165,000.00.
FINDINGS
8.84.
We saw photographic evidence of the defilement of
Ms. McFarlane’s property and agree with her description that, on
28 May, it resembled “a slaughter house”. In our opinion, the damage
occasioned to Ms. McFarlane’s house was attributable to members of
the JCF. The compensation she received was wholly disproportionate
to her losses and this issue must be further investigated.
(xxv) Lelieth James
8.85.
Ms. James, an elderly lady, lived at 1 Wilton Hill Drive. On 24 May,
as gunfire intensified, she locked her gate, went upstairs and sat on the landing.
Shots appeared to be coming from the direction of 1 McKenzie Drive. She took
her phone and hid under a bed. Then she heard a loud explosion, sounding “like
a bomb”, followed by a second explosion. “The house start to dance”.
8.86.
After shooting subsided, she went to a cousin’s house “further up
Wilton Hill Drive”. While going down the stairs in her house, aided by a walker,
she observed that glass windows were shattered. Outside, there was a large
hole in the pathway and her verandah was littered with debris. She said: “I had
a hard time opening the grill because everything was lodged on my verandah.”