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high-rise buildings. When Commissioners visited Tivoli Gardens on
24 April 2015, we saw a constellation of bullet indentations on these
buildings.
8.128.
Secondly, after 26 May, during the searches conducted by
the Engineers, damage was caused to the interior of many dwellings.
Lt. Col. Cummings admitted that the Engineers were obliged, in some
cases, to damage parts of dwelling houses where they suspected that
weapons and ammunition may have been concealed. That the
Engineers had to revisit properties to carry out repairs is an implicit
acknowledgment that they caused damage in the first instance.
8.129.
Thirdly, it would be a perversion of common sense, in the
context of the operation, to accept that the damage to 2,520 dwellings
seen by the officials of the MoLSS (infra), was caused by the residents
or even the gunmen. The gunmen were pre-occupied with firing at the
security forces and were predominantly firing from inside or on top of
properties at the security forces who were firing back towards
buildings where the gunmen were located. However, whereas we
accept that some damage to private property was caused by gunmen in
cross-fire, we think that the percentage of such damage was not
substantial.
8.130.
Finally, since according to the evidence of the leaders of
the security forces, the area of operation was substantially pacified on
25 May, the force used by the JDF in carrying out searches was
disproportionate to the circumstances existing in West Kingston at the
time of those searches. Searches, primarily by the JCF on
24 and 25 May, were also heavy-handed. Premises were invariably
ransacked, appliances broken and strewn across rooms. These