Armadale Equiry Commissioner Assesses That Cops Lied
Two policemen, who testified before the commission of enquiry into the deadly fire at the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre for girls in May 2009, were deemed untruthful by the enquiry’s commissioner, Justice Paul Harrison.
Justice Harrison report was released recently, and in it, he concluded that constables Lawrence Burrell and Roogae Rowland had lied to the commission.
Justice Harrison found that Burrell, one of two police personnel who responded to a disturbance at the correctional facility on May 22, 2009, used unlawful force when he discharged a tear gas canister into the dormitory office where 23 girls were being housed. The tear gas, which is believed to have caused the fire, resulted in the death of seven of the girls.
In his report, Justice Harrison stated “The discharge of the tear gas canister into the dormitory by Constable Burrell was harsh and unnecessary.” Burrell had appeared before the commission, and denied discharging a tear gas canister into the dormitory office. He said when he responded to the disturbance, he had a tear gas device, which he called a “bombing ball”, and that he discovered that the device was no longer attached to his shirt after the firefighters came and the area was cooled down. Justice Harrison said he did not believe Constable Burrell’s statement in this regard.
Justice Harrison also said that Constable Rowland was an “untruthful witness”. Rowland had denied issuing Burrell a tear gas canister on the night in question. Harrison also rejected evidence of two other police personnel at the station as untrue and invalid due to the fact that the station diary at the Alexandria Police Station apparently had omissions and false entries.
Tags : Armadale Equiry, Justice Paul Harrison, Lawrence Burrell, Roogae Rowland
2 Responses to “Armadale Equiry Commissioner Assesses That Cops Lied”
said on February 25th, 2010 at 1:01 am
Squaddie mentality at its zenith !! One for all and all for one !!
said on February 26th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
[...] for the tragedy, and just this week, the Commissioner of the enquiry into the tragedy assessed that police personnel had lied to the commission. var addthis_pub = 'jamaicanpolice'; var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_options = 'email, [...]
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