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SSP Donovan Graham
8.125.
SSP Donovan Graham was a Silver Commander and had 244
officers from Mobile Reserve under his command on 24 May. He was effectively
the senior officer on the ground during the operation and he established a base
at Seprod. When hostilities subsided, he visited the community of Tivoli
Gardens. SSP Graham said that he did not see any burnt out houses or
apartments. He did not see any windows shot out or riddled with bullet holes.
He did not visit Rasta City but he visited sections of Java and parts of sector 2.
Java
8.126.
Mr. Golding said that, in the week following the internal security
operation, he visited Tivoli Gardens. He knew that Coke lived in Java. He said –
“I saw Java totally destroyed.”
On the other hand, Maj. Marlon Kennedy who was the JDF Commander
responsible for sector 2, testified in answer to Ms. Deborah Martin, that after
4.35 p.m. on 24 May, he “moved around Belgium, Java and the Community
Centre”. Java was within his sector, but Maj. Kennedy said –
“All the buildings in Java were intact.”
FINDINGS
8.127.
Upon a consideration of the totality of evidence adduced,
we find that the JDF caused most of the damage to the property of
residents. First, during the phase of the internal security operation
when the JDF was seeking to get into the area of operation, the JDF
encountered heavy and sustained gunfire from gunmen, several of
whom were strategically placed on top of high-rise buildings. It seems
to us that, when the JDF engaged these men in exchanges of gunfire,
they would necessarily be firing upwards and damage was caused to