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471
documents of the JCF or seeking to retrieve the information from him
during the five months that he was alive subsequent to the internal
security operation.
We have noted the evidence of ACP Gause that, for
the period May to October 2010, he did not have "any documentary
evidence showing where bodies were found, on what date or whether
anything illegal was found near the bodies”.
14.140.
The absence of a record of deployment of JCF officers on
24 May is but another example of unprofessional conduct. There was
ample time in the planning of the operation to take this matter into
account and make proper arrangements to put in place the necessary
logistics. Once again, our Enquiry has been “short-changed” by reason
of a dearth of relevant and vital information on a matter of the greatest
importance.
14.141.
Similarly, the investigatory process has been greatly
compromised by the vast disparity that exists between the record of
7,610 rounds expended by the security forces and only 36 spent shells
being recovered. We find this disparity alarming. We are forced to ask
why is it that those who were searching for guns and ammunition on
24 May and thereafter were not instructed to search for and recover
spent shells also? All of the officers doing searches would surely have
known of the evidential value of spent shells. It is our finding that
either no instructions were given to recover spent shells or instructions
were given to ignore them. Either way, the omission does no credit to
the security forces. We accept the evidence of Mr. Campbell that the
documentation supplied by BSI to INDECOM did not include any
evidential material regarding spent shells.