KINGSTON, Jamaica – A woman testified in tears about witnessing the deaths of her neighbour’s two sons during the May 2010 operation to apprehend then don Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke. The witness testified that on the same day Marjorie Williams’ two sons were killed – May 24 – soldiers intervened to ensure the safety of her own two sons.

She said police and soldiers came to her house and took out her two sons but a soldier promised her that he would ensure their safety.

She said she stood watching when a police officer pointed a gun at her and used an expletive, telling her to go back inside her house.

She said she wanted to go inside but that she couldn’t. She said a police officer and a soldier sought to assure her that all would be well with her sons. She testified that a soldier told her he knew her sons were not involved in wrongdoings.

She said at one point a police officer asked a soldier to bring one of her sons. She testified that the soldier took up Dwayne and asked if he wanted him. She said the police officer said yes, but that the soldier refused to hand him over, saying he promised their safe return home.

She said her sons and other men were next to a truck that contained dead people. The woman testified in her examination-in-chief that she saw the police leading Marjorie’s two sons, Fabian and Fernando Grant.

She said she saw the police lead them into a yard and that one of the police officers used a handgun to shoot Fabian, who had called out for his mother. She said the same policeman also killed Fernando.

She said she could identify the policeman who did the killings.

The witness testified that the police told two Tivoli residents, ‘Giffy’ and ‘Escobar, to put the bodies in the truck with the other bodies. She said a police officer shot and killed Giffy while he was in the truck.

She said Escobar was not harmed.

“I saw it with my eyes,” she said.

She said the policemen put one of her sons in the same truck, but that a soldier took him out. She said her sons were taken away unharmed for processing.

Commission Chairman Sir David Simmons said that protection should be offered to the witness because she testified to being able to identify the police involved in the shooting.

“And my sons too,” she quipped.

Paul Henry