THE Tivoli Enquiry will today start hearing what may be damning evidence from three Jamaica Defence Force soldiers who have said that they witnessed police personnel killing unarmed civilians in Tivoli Gardens during the 2010 operation to apprehend Christopher “Dudus” Coke.

The soldiers are expected to say in their anticipated explosive evidence that they witnessed at least eight police personnel killing unarmed civilians.

The evidence will be given from an undisclosed location. The identity of the witnesses will be concealed.

The testimony could corroborate evidence given by some Tivoli Gardens residents that unarmed citizens were killed in cold blood during the operation that started on May 24, 2010.

The allegations by Tivoli Gardens residents of extrajudicial killings and other reported atrocities helped spark the enquiry being held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

Law enforcement officials have been strident in their rejection of allegations of murder.

Seventy-two people were killed in the joint police/military operation launched to arrest Coke, who was wanted at the time in the United States on drugs and gunrunning charges. It was also meant to restore law and order in West Kingston.

The enquiry started in December of last year and has heard evidence from former Prime Minister Bruce Golding, members of his Cabinet, a number of Tivoli Gardens residents, and high-ranking members from the Jamaica Defence Force and Jamaica Constabulary Force.

Last week, Tivoli Gardens resident Jane McFarlane testified that she lost her son, nephew and her son-in-law during the operation.

Questioned by Commission Chairman Sir David Simmons on Friday about their character, McFarlane said that they were never involved in gangs or guns.

She said that they were law-abiding businesspeople and that she would have heard if they were involved in any wrongdoing.

She added that not everyone in Tivoli Gardens were gunmen, while accusing Jamaica Constabulary Force attorney Valerie Neita-Robertson of trying to give that perception.

Neita-Robertson had earlier suggested to McFarlane that her son and nephew had been killed using the house as a point from which to attack lawmen, but she denied the suggestion.

Later, McFarlane told attorney Michael Williams, who is representing the lobby group Tivoli Committee, that the killings drove her mother insane.

She had also given evidence that her daughter and one of her sons had mental challenges resulting from the ordeal.

She had testified that her son, Martin Lindsay, had told her on the phone that a fire was blazing and that it smelled like bodies were being burnt and that he had heard screaming.

Responding to further questioning from Simmons, McFarlane testified that her son, nephew and son-in-law were killed on May 26, 2010 after the police took control of the community.