FINANCE Minister Dr Omar Davies took the witness stand yesterday and told the West Kingston commission of inquiry how three years of relative peace between communities in his South St Andrew and Edward Seaga’s West Kingston constituencies was shattered by the gun slaying of three men one afternoon in April last year.

“A tenseness set upon the whole area,” said Davies, as he related how the atmosphere changed in his constituency.

The three men — William “Willie Haggart” Moore, Albert “Blacka Douche” Bonner and Lowell “Big Bunny” Hinds, were gunned down at a section of Lincoln Crescent on the outskirts of Arnett Gardens, one of the communities in Davies’ constituency.

Moore, believed to be an underworld kingpin, was the reputed leader of the Black Roses Crew, a group of men that often congregated in the general area where the three men were killed and where Moore operated a business.

“One of the ironies of the whole matter,” said Davies, “is that whilst there was more attention to the death of Willie Haggart, the tenseness was, to a large extent, more related to the death of Albert Bonner, as, in addition to being a strong supporter of the PNP, he had many friends in many areas who may have wanted revenge.”

Davies said that following a spate of drive-by shootings in the area, various roads were blocked, as the residents tried to protect themselves from possible harm.

Rumours, he said, became rife, school attendance dropped, and people came off the streets. He said the relationship between his constituency and Denham and Hannah towns, both in West Kingston, deteriorated.

Davies said he attempted, both directly and indirectly, to work within the constituency to urge non-reprisal and pleaded with the residents to allow the police to do their work.

He said that he was rebuffed when he contacted Seaga with a suggestion that they both meet to work together to bring some normality to the community.

According to Davies, Seaga told him to tell the men in Arnett Gardens who were on the borders to go back to their communities.

Davies, who has been member of parliament for the St Andrew South constituency since 1993 when he won a by-election, told the inquiry that as soon as he became MP he undertook projects to improve the social infrastructure of the community with specific emphasis on literacy and sanitation.

He said he also worked to unite his constituency, a section of which once voted heavily for the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party. Educational and sporting links, Davies said, became the most powerful weapons in achieving this unity in these communities, which, he said, lived in virtual isolation.

“I recall my first visit to a Boys’ Town/Arnett Gardens (football) match,” said the minister. “The organisers requested of me that I should get the services of 50 policemen. I declined and indicated that they are both my teams. I went to the match and greeted both my teams with a contingent of supporters, mainly from the north, many of whom were making their first visit to that section of the constituency in many years,” he said.

Davies recalled that in 1998, when spectator stands were put into the Tony Spaulding Sport Complex in Arnett Gardens, he had a discussion with the team as to how the occasion should be marked.

“The suggestion which came out of a meeting with the players is that a combined Arnett/Tivoli (Gardens) team would challenge the Jamaica national football team. When the suggestion came from the team, I must confess I doubted that this would be possible, however, I called Mr Seaga and made the proposition to him, he accepted.

“It was a historic match,” Davies said, not just that the teams were playing together, but because Seaga announced at the match that he was visiting Arnett Gardens for the first time in 27 years.