No ruling for Rasta teen’s case yet
THE Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is still not certain when it will be able to hand down a ruling in the case of 19-year-old Nzinga King who it is alleged was forcibly trimmed by a cop while she was in custody.
“We had written to INDECOM (Independent Commission of Investigations) to get further information, we got some, but some is still outstanding. We heard from them last week so we are still waiting. We can’t rule definitively until that is done,” Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn told the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday.
Last year, a video was circulated on social media in which King and her mother Shirley McIntosh claimed that a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force assigned to the Four Paths Police Station in Clarendon forcibly trimmed King’s locks.
In the video, King, who said she is a lifelong Rastafarian, also alleged that she was unfairly detained by the police following an incident in a public passenger vehicle.
In a press release on Monday, the anti-corruption and governance group the Advocates Network expressed its disappointment at the lack of information and delays into the investigations of King’s case.
“The Advocates Network anxiously awaits the results of the investigation into the reported human rights abuses committed at the police station – more than six months ago. Ms King is symbolic of the ‘have nots’ in Jamaica who continue to be neglected and whose human rights are so often disregarded and abused,” the organisation said.
It added that it is demanding respect and fair access to King’s justice, whose rights as a woman and Rastafarian seemed to have been infringed during the traumatic incident.
More than two months ago INDECOM had reported that it had completed its probe into the incident.
At that time the investigative body said an investigative file and commission’s report had been submitted to the ODPP on November 11 for a ruling.
The ODPP may rule that criminal charges, disciplinary action or no criminal charges against the implcated cops.
— Brittny Hutchinson