THE bodies of the seven youth killed at Braeton by the police on March 14 last year were not kept under sterile conditions, resulting in numerous opportunities for contamination, attorneys representing the estates of the deceased have submitted at the coroner’s inquest.

Detective Sergeant Devon Harris of the Scenes of Crime Section at CIB headquarters, who swabbed the back of the hands and palms of the seven youth for gunpowder residue on March 14, under cross-examination testified that when he went to do the swabs, the bodies were on a sheet on the ground in the yard at the Spanish Town Funeral Home morgue.

Harris testified that he was asked by Deputy Superintendent Terrence Sanko, on behalf of Superintendent Maurice Goodgame of the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI), to swab the young men’s palms and hands. He told attorney Richard Rowe yesterday that he found the hands that he tested uncovered and open to the elements.

Harris told Rowe, who is appearing for the estate of Tamayo Wilson, one of the slain youth, that he did not collect samples for gunpowder residue from the deceased’s clothes or other parts of their bodies as he was only instructed to swab their hands and palms.

Rowe, who asked the detective if in addition to collecting the samples for gunpowder residue, a control test (“to prevent adventitious contamination”) was done, was told by Harris that it was not necessary.

But Harris, who was asked what he meant by a control test, replied: “To prove materials I use are sterile.”

On Friday, Harris had said that he was not aware that the seven dead youth had been lifted by their hands and feet from 1088 Fifth Seal Way, Braeton Phase Three where they were shot.

Under cross-examination by attorney Maurice Saunders, appearing for the estate of Dane Whyte, Harris testified that it was possible that the police who discharged firearms on the morning of March 14 last year had gunpowder residue on their hands.

He said that if any of these policemen held on to the hands of any of the dead youth in an area that he later swabbed, it would be possible for gunpowder residue to have been transferred from the policeman’s hand to the hands of the deceased.

“However, as to what the trace level would be, would be another matter for consideration,” Harris said.

Attorney Dennis Daley, who is appearing for the estate of Reagon Beckford, submitted that the bodies were lying head to toe, almost touching, on the sheet on the ground in the yard at the morgue.

Daley: You will agree that even before testing there was the possibility of transfer of gunpowder residue?

Harris: If any hand touched another and or there was residue on another part of the body it would be possible for contamination.

Harris, who was trained in swabbing in 1990 by a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agent at a five-week course in Barbados, testified that he used a total of eight pairs of gloves while swabbing the young men. He said he wore one pair while tagging the men, discarded them after he was finished and used a different pair while swabbing the back and palms of the hands of each deceased.

Daley: By not changing gloves after doing one hand, is it possible to contaminate the other hand?

Harris: I took all the care I could.

Daley: Would not the ideal care be to change gloves after each hand?

Harris: I was taught by a retired FBI agent to use the same gloves.

Daley: Were you also taught that gunpowder residue can be on other parts of the body and clothes?

Harris: Yes.

Under cross-examination by Saunders, Harris also admitted that he did not wash his hands after removing one pair of gloves and before replacing them with another pair.

Saunders: You used one gloved hand to pull off the other glove?

Harris: Yes

Saunders: This residue gunpowder, is it easily visible to the eye?

Harris: No.

Saunders: So even with all the care you took, it’s possible to have come in contact with residue that you could not have seen with the naked eye?

Harris: I don’t share that.

In reply to a question from Saunders, Harris said that he did not swab the hands of any of the policemen who were involved in the Braeton operation and is not aware if anyone else did. He also did not know if the firearms of any of the policemen were tested.

Under cross-examination by Oswest Senior-Smith, Harris said that based on his experience, it was possible for gunpowder residue to have been on the clothing. He said that if a person firing a gun was standing close to other persons, gunpowder residue was likely to blow onto the hands and clothing of the other persons.