AMNESTY International will send an independent forensic pathologist to the island to observe the autopsies on the four persons killed by the police in last week’s controversial shooting at Crawle, Clarendon.

Professor Derrick Pounder, head of the department of forensic medicine at the University of Dundee, Scotland, will observe the postmortem which is scheduled for Thursday May 22, in Spanish Town, St Catherine. Convener of Families Against State Terrorism (FAST), Yvonne McCalla-Sobers, told the Observer that Pounder will arrive in the island on May 21.

He is the third independent forensic pathologist sent, by the international human rights group, after controversial deaths at the hands of state agencies.

The others include Dr Kaukipati Ramalu of Barbados, who was assigned to the Michael Gayle postmortem in 1999; and Dr Peter Leth of Denmark who was assigned to the Braeton Seven case.

Amnesty International, as well as local human rights groups have long been critical of post mortems conducted by the state.

Earlier this year, state pathologist Dr Royston Clifford was sacked after repeated complaints, from local human rights groups, that he repeatedly blocked their attempts to have independent observers at post mortem exams, in contravention of directives from the Government.

Sobers said this time around she expects to see some revolutionary changes in the way the autopsies are done on the four bodies.

“We (FAST) want to ensure that none of the four bodies are buried with a bullet,” she said. “I want to see that not more than the four bodies are done on that day, I want to see the pathologists spending more time on each body to ensure a more detailed, in-depth and careful examination of the bodies.”

She also made it clear that she expects:

* skin samples to be taken from around the bullet wounds as these samples could be used to determine the range at which the shots had been fired;

* forensic tests, specifically for gunshot residue, to be done on the dead persons’ clothing;

* and photos to be taken, by both the local and independent pathologists, which can be used in a court of law.

But Sobers said that her organisation was not calling for a coroners inquest in the matter as she is of the opinion that the shooting by the police in this instance constitutes a criminal case.

“I want this matter to go to the criminal court,” she said. “Therefore I am calling for a rapid investigation to be done, as in any case where there is an allegation of murder made against a civilian.”