A member of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) yesterday gave damning evidence in the Tivoli Enquiry about two policemen killing five apparently unarmed men, three of whom were in detention at the time of their demise.

The soldier testified that the police laughed after killing two teen brothers, who he said were taken from their home and walked to the back of the premises where they were gunned down.

He gave evidence, under questioning from INDECOM boss Terrence Williams, that one of the cops said at one point: “You know how long mi waan come in yah so.”

The incidents, the soldier testified, occurred on May 24, 2010, the first day of the operation to apprehend then Tivoli Gardens don Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

The enquiry, being held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, is looking into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 73 people during the operation.

Yesterday, the JDF member, identified only as Soldier Number 3, testified in his examination-in-chief that the first three men were killed while being held in a makeshift detention area.

He said he saw one of the two police officers point his M16 rifle on a young man, who was sitting with his hands bound behind him, and fired a shot to his head.

He said another detained man was protesting the killing when a different police officer fired on him. The soldier said other people were in the detention area in a section of the community called Java.

According to the army man, the policeman who did the first shooting beckoned to another young man in the detention area to come to him. He said the young man asked if he was going to kill him, to which the cop said no.

Soldier Number 3 said the policeman took the detainee to a house across from the detention area and explosions were heard. He said the police officer returned alone.

Following those killings, the witness said that he and a fellow soldier and the same two police officers went to a house where the cops ordered a woman to send her two sons out. They appeared to be in the 14 to 17 age group, the witness said.

He said the policemen took the teens to the back of the house where he heard an explosion and one of the cops asking the other police officer, “You a go shoot me?”

More explosions were heard, he said, before the policemen emerged from behind the house laughing with each other.

He said he went behind the house and saw the teens’ bodies in a pool of blood. He said he and his colleague soldier left the area and went back to Java because of the incident.

He said he’s unable to identify the policemen who did the killings.

Valerie Neita-Robertson, one of the attorneys for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, suggested to Soldier Number 3 that his story wasn’t true but he denied the suggestion.

She asked if he knew that he had the power of arrest under the state of emergency that was in effect at the time, to which he said yes.

The attorney asked why he didn’t exercise the authority and arrest the policemen whom he claimed to have witnessed killing the men in cold blood, but he said he reported the matter to a lance corporal.

He also denied a suggestion that he collaborated with Soldier Number 1 in the writing of his statement. Both statements, in some areas, the attorney pointed out, are similar in language.

During his questioning by the INDECOM boss, Soldier Number 3 said the policemen laughed at him and his fellow soldier after one of the soldiers said they were not staying there because “we nuh inna nothing wid dem police yah”.

Later, the witness told Michael Williams, who appears for advocacy group Tivoli Committee, that the policemen in question were part of the unit that was conducting house searches in the Java area.

He said he felt some “disquiet”, uneasiness, and “anxiety” over the action of the policemen and that they were part of his team helping to clear houses in the community.

However, the witness, who was a private at the time, said he feared speaking to the men about their behaviour as he felt it would lead to a confrontation.

He said he had never felt this level of disquiet on previous joint police/military operations.

The evidence of Soldier Number 3 followed that of Soldier Number 1 last week. Soldier Number 2 was scheduled next but the commission was informed by JDF attorney Linton Gordon that he had left the army and was no longer on the island.

The enquiry resumes today.