DPP Armadale ruling to be handed to Ellington tomorrow
Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn is expected to hand over her ruling on the role of four police officers in the tragic Armadale Juvenile Correctional Facility fire to Acting Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington tomorrow morning.
In the aftermath of an inquiry into the fire, which ended with seven female wards of the state losing their lives, the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) probed the incident and handed the file to Llewellyn for her to make a ruling.
This evening, Llewellyn told the Observer that she will be handing over copies of her ruling to the police about 11:am tomorrow.
“The ruling is in relation to the BSI file that had been handed to us. So tomorrow I will be handing the file to the BSI and the acting commissioner,” Llewellyn said.
The four cops were interdicted after a commission of inquiry into the deadly fire headed by retired Justice Paul Harrison.
The seven girls — Ann-Marie Samuels, Nerrissa King, Rachael King, Kaychell Nelson, Shauna-Lee Kerr, Georgina Saunders and Stephanie Smith — died due to burn injuries sustained in the fire. The girls had been in lock down at the facility.
Former commissioner of corrections June Spence-Jarrett and former permanent secretary in the security ministry, Major Richard Reese, were also transferred from their jobs as a result of the tragedy.