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24 AUGUST 2009 – PRELUDE TO MAY 2010
3.5.
On 24 August 2009, then CoP Hardley Lewin telephoned
CDS Stewart Saunders and told him that a request for the extradition of Coke
was to be made by the USG to the GoJ.
3.6.
CDS Saunders and CoP Lewin went to advise the Minister of
National Security, Mr. Dwight Nelson. Mr. Nelson was briefed as to the
information, which the Heads of the security forces had, and he advised them to
report to Prime Minister Golding. Accordingly, they briefed the Prime Minister at
his official residence the same afternoon. Mr. Golding testified about the
information he received. Under cross-examination by Mr. Linton Gordon on
11 February 2015, he said –
“I did not get the impression from Gen. Saunders or CoP
Lewin that they were seeking a direction from me. The USG
wanted to alert me and CoP Lewin told them that it was his
responsibility to alert me…..I was alerted by the Heads of
the security forces that an extradition warrant for
Christopher Coke would be arriving the following day… I
spoke to the Attorney-General late that evening to tell her
what the Heads had told me. Ultimately, it was her call to
make.”
3.7.
Para.6 of CDS Saunders’ witness statement mentions that a plan to
detain Coke was to be launched on
25 August 2009
“or any time thereafter as
we received authorisation”. Since CDS Saunders and CoP Lewin expected the
request to be acceded to by the GoJ, they conceived of “a soft detention”. That
is, in the words of CDS Saunders –
“we would have taken Mr. Coke at his home in Belvedere,
St. Andrew and avoid him fleeing to Tivoli Gardens and
fortifying his position there.”
3.8.
Coke was under surveillance. Intelligence confirmed that, up to
the time of briefing the Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Coke
was at his Belvedere residence. CDS Saunders told the Commission –