KINGSTON, Jamaica – A Tivoli Gardens resident testified that his nephew was unjustly killed by lawmen a day after the May 2010 operation to apprehend then don Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

He said his nephew, known as ‘Porridge Man’, was shot inside his house after three masked police officers and a member of the Jamaica Defence Force took him inside.

Witness Denton Dacres testified in the Tivoli Enquiry that he and other men were placed in a police truck with about 12 dead people, including ‘Porridge Man’.

At that point, he testified that a police officer said, “Weh we ago do wid dem yah? Dem a guh dead too?

“How we a mix up dead man wid live man? Dem ago dead to?”

He said the police officers on the scene talked things over before removing them to another vehicle, eventually taking them away for processing.

Dacres had earlier testified that he had left his house on May 24, 2010 for a neighbour’s house “when bombs started dropping”.

He said he left ‘Porridge Man’ alone in the house before the lawmen showed up the following day.

Under cross-examination from Deborah Martin, one of the attorneys for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Dacres said he left his nephew because he felt more secure where a number of people were. She asked why he didn’t take ‘Porridge Man’ with him but he said his nephew was a big man at 30 years of age and that his nephew wasn’t afraid.

Martin asked if any gunman was in his house on the May 24, but Dacres said no.

Paul Henry