401 / 494
400
executed by the officers of the JCF whose responsibility it was to
perform those duties. So far as SSP Budhoo is concerned, we have
deleted our original finding and substitute the finding at 11.119.
(viii) Delay in Commencing Investigations
11.126.
We limit our comments hereunder to the investigations into
allegations of unlawful killings and direct further attention to Chapters 10 and 14.
It suffices to report that allegations of extra-judicial killings by members of the
security forces were documented by OPD and handed over to BSI. On 25 May,
CoP Ellington instructed BSI to commence investigations without delay. BSI duly
established complaints desks in Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town but there was
no record made of the locations of bodies to assist in a determination of the
manner of killings nor was there an immediate start made to process possible
crime scenes. The JCF had an obligation to record these matters as an
inescapable part of the investigative process. ACP Blake testified that, on
26 May, he saw three bodies in a house in Tivoli Gardens. He instructed Supt.
Phipps “to get the Scenes of Crime persons to do the photographing because,
obviously, three dead men in a house with what appear to be gunshot wounds, it
struck me that we need to have the scene properly processed”.
11.127.
ACP Gause said that on 26 May he gave a directive to SSP Stewart–
“that henceforth BSI personnel along with a team, BSI
personnel, somebody from Scenes of Crime, somebody from
the photo section, somebody from Denham Town – about
four or five because that will constitute a team – be there
until further order to primarily hear complaints, take
necessary statements, visit particular areas.”
11.128.
That evidence was contradicted by Insp. Harris who led the Scenes
of Crime unit to Tivoli Gardens. He testified unequivocally that his unit was not
requested to go into Tivoli Gardens until 4 June 2010. We also draw attention to
Mr. Witter’s letter of 31 May 2010 to ACP Gause and copied to CoP Ellington