A witness yesterday admitted at the Tivoli Commission of Enquiry that a statement she gave, accusing a soldier of shooting a man of unsound mind in the head during the May 2010 police/military operation to apprehend Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, was “mixed with rumours” from the community.

The witness, Minnette Lindsay, changed her evidence after attorney Garth McBean, the senior counsel for the Tivoli Commission, confronted her with the post-mortem report showing that Clarke was shot in the abdomen, shoulder, legs, thighs and stomach.

She said she formed the impression that Clarke was shot in the head because an 11-year-old relative of his said that his head “mash up”.

Lindsay, who is a witness of the advocacy group, Tivoli Committee, had testified during her examination-in-chief, led by Michael Williams, that on Monday, May 24, 2010 she watched as a soldier shot Clarke in the head as he ran.

She testified that Clarke was shot after a soldier told men being rounded up to run if they could not hold in a truck sent to transport residents. Lindsay testified that Major Garth Anderson was present at the time of the shooting. She testified also that soldiers had kicked the men in their faces and stomped on their hands while they lay on the hot concrete.

The witness was adamant as she told commission chairman, Sir David Simmons, that her sight was not obstructed at the time of Clarke’s shooting.

But later confronted by McBean with the post-mortem report, the witness admitted that she didn’t see where on his body Clarke was shot.

Questioned by Linton Gordon, one of the attorneys for the Jamaica Defence Force, Lindsay said her view of the 22-year-old Clarke was obstructed after he ran past the truck.

Other claims in her statement, which was taken by Tivoli Committee head Lloyd D’Aguilar, were that Clarke’s body was not found by his family and that it lay in the street three days before being removed.

Lindsay claimed that things were included in her statement that she never told D’Aguilar.

Meanwhile, Lindsay said her wooden house on 1 McKenzie Drive in Rasta City and possessions were destroyed by fire during the operation. She estimated her loss at $4 million.

Another Tivoli Committee witness will today take the stand during the enquiry, which is being held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

The enquiry is looking into the circumstances surrounding the death of 73 people during the operation to apprehend Coke.