Lashley calls for Inquiry
by Yvette Best (www.nationnews.com)
A SENIOR PARLIAMENTARIAN is calling for an inquiry into the death of 23-year-old I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney, who allegedly jumped off a cliff at Land Locks, near Cove Bay, St Lucy, two weeks ago.
Hamilton Lashley, Member of Parliament for St Michael South East, told the WEEKEND NATION he would be using all his powers as an MP to get to the bottom of the issue.
“I’m calling for an urgent investigation by the Commissioner of Police and I’m hoping the Attorney-General will use his office to investigate the death of this young man,” he stated.
He said the investigation was “quite necessary”, because what police were saying and what other people were saying “leaves a lot to be desired”.
Police sources said the pathologist listed the cause of death as drowning, but this is being disputed.
Rasta profiling
“This is something I’ve been talking about in Parliament all the time. I’ve been talking about profiling Rastas . . . . Until the evidence can prove me wrong, I am firmly convinced that he [Tacuma] has been a victim of Rasta profiling.
“This is not just another Rasta, this an intellectual young man who represented Barbados in Jamaica at the fifth ministerial conference that interviewed ministers, worked with ministers in this region yuh know, that’s what I’m talking about,” said Lashley, adding that he really wanted Tacuma and his family’s name cleared.
“The circumstances under which he died are indeed very suspicious [and] must be investigated, and the full truth disclosed to his family and the general public,” Lashley said to loud applause in a eulogy at Tacuma’s graveside yesterday in Westbury Cemetery.
His comments mirrored those of the placard-bearing Rasta brethren who made several shouts for justice.
Where Is The Justice?, To Serve And Protect Who? and I Am My Brother’s Keeper were just some of the messages on the placards.
Tacuma’s mother, Margaret Maloney, is convinced her son was killed, but not by drowning. She continues to question the police investigation, and even more so since, she stated, her request for an independent autopsy was denied.
Completed
She said when she turned up last Friday to witness the procedure at the Forensics Sciences Centre on Culloden Road, St Michael, she was told it had been completed.
Maloney said she had been told the autopsy would be at 10 a.m., but when she got there she was told it started at 8 a.m.
Conflicting accounts
She has accused police of giving conflicting accounts of the death of her son, who she said feared heights and death by drowning.
“Nothing the police tell you just ain’t mekking nuh sense,” she said yesterday.
The information never rang true for Margaret because Tacuma was off work for two weeks with a slipped disc and acid reflux. Further, the former chemical engineer at the Arawak Cement Plant was being treated by a podiatrist and was scheduled for another appointment on July 11.
Up to yesterday Margaret did not have the results of the autopsy, but a police source said the pathologist listed the cause of death as drowning. The source also said Margaret was never denied a chance to view the autopsy.
Maloney said when she saw her son on June 18, the day after his death, he had a wound at the back of the head and what appeared to be burn marks across his stomach.
Tags: hamilton lashley, inquiry, investigation, parliament