AfriKa CRY BLOOD

I’AKOBI MALONEY did not sustain a single broken bone after falling 80 feet from a cliff to his death.

But pathologist, Dr Carl Winskog said that was not unusual.

“You would assume there would be broken bones, but that is not a certain fact,” he stated under cross examination by Andrew Pilgrim.

He explained that the absence of broken bones could be for a number of reasons including how the body fell and the surface it fell on. But he admitted that if it was a hard surface like a rock the chances of broken bones would be higher, although he pointed out that the waves could have cushioned the blow to Maloney’s body.

Dr Winskog reported that there was damage to Maloney’s abdomen and he also had a ruptured liver. (more…)

CORONER FAITH MARSHALL-HARRIS chastised a police officer for failing to make written notes surrounding the death of 23-year-old I’Akobi Maloney.

During his testimony on Thursday, Police Constable Wendell Walkes told the coroner that he did not make any notes because the incident was clear in his mind.

But Coroner Marshall-Harris told the detective that it was a matter of credibility and not simply having a good a memory. (more…)

by MARIA BRADSHAW

CORONER FAITH MARSHALL-HARRIS is “desperately searching” for corroborating evidence in the unnatural death of I’Akobi Maloney.

But she will not get it from the two police officers who were the only ones with the 23-year-old scholar when he died.

She made this observation as she conducted an inquest into Maloney’s death on Thursday, interrupting attorney-at-law Andrew Pilgrim’s cross-examination of one of the police officers, Constable Wendell Walkes. (more…)

by MARIA BRADSHAW

A DIARY ENTRY supposedly written by I’Akobi Maloney on the day he reportedly jumped off an 80-foot cliff in St Lucy to his death was presented to the coroner’s court yesterday.

Police handwriting expert Nola Murphy read out the entry to the court which was written on pages June 17 and June 18, in the black diary said to have been recovered from a black haversack he had on the day he died.

Murphy, who carried out a handwriting analysis of the diary with a specimen of another document written by Maloney and bearing his signature, testified that it was highly probable Maloney wrote the diary entry.

In it was written: (more…)

by MARIA BRADSHAW

A PSYCHIATRIST who examined a diary entry believed to have been written by I’Akobi Maloney on the day he died has deduced from his writings that he was “troubled”.

However, Dr. Ermine Belle, senior consultant psychiatrist at the Psychiatric Hospital, said she could not say the 23-year-old, who reportedly leapt off an 80-foot cliff to his death, was suicidal. (more…)

I’AKOBI MALONEY’S FATHER admitted to the coroner’s inquest investigating his son’s death, that he once received psychiatric treatment but said he had never attempted suicide.

David Maloney, of 6th Avenue, New Orleans, St Michael, said he received this treatment back in the 1980s.

“There was a time in the 1980s when I wasn’t feeling very well and I was sent there (Psychiatric Hospital) for observation and a chemical imbalance was the reason they gave,” he said. (more…)

RASHIDA FRANCIS, an employee of the Government Forensics Laboratory, testified Monday that the Maloney family examined I’Akobi Maloney’s body when they should not have done so.

Francis told the Coroner’s Court that she was at the Government Forensics Centre when she spoke to Station Sergeant Morris on the telephone about Maloney’s body. At that time the station sergeant told her that Maloney’s mother was at the Crab Hill Police Station.

She was surprised when about an hour later, Marguerita Maloney turned up at the laboratory saying she came to identify the body. However, she informed her that she would have to bring her son’s identification card and hers as well.
(more…)

ACTING SERGEANT Wingrove Headley admitted to Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris that he made an error in his statement which he gave about the death of I’Akobi Maloney.

In that statement, Headley wrote that after Maloney fatally jumped off a cliff he took possession of his haversack which he said “contained the same black pants and grey shirt” and other items.

But the coroner drew it to his attention that he had previously said in his statement that Maloney put on those clothes in his presence and she asked him to clarify what he meant.

The officer explained that he meant that it was the bag which contained the clothes which Maloney had put on and that it was an error for him to use the word “same”. (more…)

A telephone operator in the Police Control Room said she received a telephone call from an unknown man on June 17, informing her that he had spotted a “Rastaman” standing on a cliff at Coves Bay, St Lucy.

Grace Boyce-Codrington said the caller also stated that he had seen a boat at sea in the same area.

Boyce-Codrington was giving evidence at the Coroner’s Court during the inquest into the death of I’Akobi Maloney, who police testified jumped over a cliff at Land Lock, St Lucy, and died.

She said she received the call around 16:43 hours and immediately relayed the information to a Sergeant Browne, whom she overheard contacting the various agencies and stations, including Crab Hill and District “E”.

The telephone operator also told the court that three minutes after receiving the call the same man called back to thank her for the police’s quick response to the scene. (more…)

THE POLICE OFFICER who dealt with I’Akobi Maloney minutes before he died, said yesterday that he and his colleague discussed what they were going to write in their statements surrounding Maloney’s death.

When Andrew Pilgrim, who is representing the Maloney family, asked Acting Sergeant Walter Headley why he and Constable 1320 Walkes’ statements were identical, Headley  said the two of them “had a discussion”

However, he denied suggestions by Pilgrim that they agreed to write exactly the same words or and that they copied each other’s words. His explanation for the identical statements was that “we saw the same thing”. (more…)

by Maria Bradshaw (Nation Newspaper)

I’AKOBI MALONEY ran from two police officers and casually jumped off an 80-foot cliff at Land Lock, St. Lucy.

That was what Acting Sergeant Walter Headley told the Coroner’s Court yesterday.

The police officer described how Maloney stood on the cliff in an X position - with his hands outstretched and feet spread - then ” without hesitation” jumped off, landing 80 feet down on what Headley called a shelf.

The police officer said that despite efforts by the police to get his attention, the young man proceeded to roll off the shelf into the choppy sea where he became trapped between rocks and was battered by the sea. (more…)

by MARIA BRADSHAW

Cops search room after threat to Coroner

POLICE OFFICERS searched the Coroner’s Court yesterday as well as persons entering the courtroom, following reports that a verbal threat was made against Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris.

The court resumed its investigation into the death of I’Akobi Maloney yesterday.

It took a 15-minute break just after noon but before Marshall-Harris could return to the to the bench, a constable asked everyone to leave the court before he and a female police officer proceeded to carry out a search inside the courtroom.

The two officers then began frisking everyone entering the court. (more…)

by Barbados Advocate

THE Coroner’s Court enquiring into the death of engineer I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney, convenes next Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the locus at Landlock, St Lucy.

This was yesterday stated by Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris at the end of the second day’s hearing at the Coroner’s Court, Roebuck Street.

Maloney, 23, of Reed Street, City, died earlier this year on June 17 at Landlock, St Lucy.

The inquest opened last Monday and so far has heard 13 witnesses including the first of two officers who responded to the call on June 17, acting Sergeant, Wingrove Headley.  Inspector Martin Jones is presenting the witnesses, while attorneys David Comissiong, Andrew Pilgrim and Ajamu Boardi are representing Maloney’s family.

by Heather Greenidge (Advocate)

NEITHER of the two police officers who were first on the scene at Landlock, St. Lucy touched I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney.

That’s according to the evidence yesterday of acting Sergeant Wingrove Headley, who also told the inquest into the death of Maloney that neither he nor colleague, Police Constable Walkes “had any physical contact” with Maloney.

“There was no verbal confrontation with him, we did not push him over and we did not cause him to jump,” the policeman added. (more…)

To: All Media Houses

At their request, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley, Q.C., M.P., met with a delegation from the Rastafarian Community of Barbados at her Bridgetown Office earlier today to discuss a number of matters, including the inquest into the death of Ras I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney.

After discussions and after reviewing the preamble of the petition through which they are seeking justice, as regards the death of Ras I’Akobi and at the invitation of the delegation, Miss Mottley issues the following statement:

“While we know that there is the Coroner’s Inquest, we believe that the request for an “independent investigation” was a reasonable one that ought to have been entertained, especially since it will not prejudice the outcome one way or the other but merely seeks to ensure that there is fairness.

“The social fabric of our society will not benefit from an environment of doubt prevailing in this matter,” she added.

Miss Mia A. Mottley, Q.C., M.P.,
Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition

by Barbados Advocate

WHEN a forensic pathologist performed a post mortem on the body of 23-year-old engineer I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney, among other things, his lungs were inflated.

That was te evidence of Dr. Carl Winskog of the Government Forensic Sciences Centre at the Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Maloney, formerly of Reed Street, City.

The forensic pathologist said that on June 20, 2008 when he performed the post mortem, he also found blunt trauma to the head, multiple lacerations to the head, arms and legs, and a laceration to the liver. He attributed the cause of death to drowning. (more…)

by Barry Alleyne

THE LEGAL TEAM representing the family of former Barbados Exhibition winner I’Akobi Maloney is exploring the possibility of having his body exhumed, so a secondary post-mortem can be done independently to prove cause of death.

Attorney-at-law Andrew Pilgrim, who is working in conjunction with David Comissiong, explained yesterday his legal squad was not on a witch-hunt of the Royal Barbados Police Force, but simply seeking to “cover all bases” in determining how the 23-year-old Maloney died.

Maloney died on June 17 this year, a few hours after tendering his resignation at the Arawak Cement Plant in St Lucy, where he was employed as a trainee engineer. (more…)

I’AKOBI MALONEY “shafted” his job for health reasons, the former Barbados Exhibition winner’s mother told a Coroner’s Inquest yesterday.

And according to Marguerita Maloney, her son, though being ill two weeks before his death, was not depressed, and had even suggested he would start on a career in the “arts”, through rhythm poetry and chanting, after giving up his employment with the Awarak Cement Plant.

Maloney, who testified her son always had “sinus problems”, said he informed her he would resign before the job caused his death from constant inhalation of cement dust. (more…)

I’AKOBI MALONEY was yesterday described as a trusted worker who impressed his superiors, and had never shown signs of depression or discontent on the job.

He was even cool and calm as he gave up his career.

Maloney’s two immediate supervisors at the Arawak Cement Plant, and a workmate who may have been one of the last persons he spoke to before his death, all said the young man was “quiet and private” and acted quiet, calm, and cheerful on the day he resigned, and later died. (more…)

A fireman who called police after seeing a stranger in the area of his house in Pie Corner, St Lucy, earlier this year, yesterday denied to a coroner’s inquest that his actions were bigoted.

Anthony Collymore, who lives at Glitter Bay, Pie Corner, St Lucy, testified that he did not call 211 simply because he saw a man with Rasta dreadlocks, but because he saw a stranger in an area well-known for illegal drug activity.

Collymore was the fifth person to give evidence on the first day of the coroner’s inquest into the unnatural death of I’Akobi Maloney.

He told the court that on arriving home on June 17, he noticed a barebacked man with dreadlocks stooping about six feet from a cliff’s edge near his home. Using his binoculars, he noticed a white boat out to sea. (more…)

SEVEN WITNESSES took the stand when the Coroner’s Inquest into the death of I’Akobi Maloney started at the Coroner’s Court in Roebuck Street, St. Michael, yesterday.

Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris also revealed that part of the inquest would include a visit to the scene at Landlock, St Lucy, where Maloney died, and the testimony of a handwriting expert to determine the contents of a diary claimed to have been Maloney’s.

Maloney, 23, was found floating in the water at Landlock on June 17 a few hours after resigning from his job at the nearby Arawak Cement Plant.

Attorneys-at-law Andrew Pilgrim and David Comissiong are representing the Maloney family.

The inquest resumes on Monday.

The Coroner’s Inquest into the death of I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney begins today in the Coroner’s Court, Roebuck Street, St Michael.

Maloney died June 17 at Landlock, St Lucy, where, police have stated, the former engineer jumped to his death. The police have denied they had any physical contact with him.

Since then there has been much concern from the public and Maloney’s family surrounding the circumstances of the former Barbados Exhibition winner’s death, with his family citing what they said were numerous inconsistencies in the police account of what happened on the day of the incident. (more…)

by Enricco Bohne (www.barbadosadvocate.com)

This was the plea yesterday at the I’Akobi Youth Resource Centre in Tweedside Road as the Justice Committee formed to promote, protect and defend the late Ras Tacuma I’Akobi Maloney’s case, met with various media houses to publicise the status of Maloney’s case.

Tacuma, whose demise at Landlock, St. Lucy on June 17th was met with much controversy, was represented by Committee members KudosSage I (Secretary of the Justice Committee), Brother Heru (Director of I’Akobi Youth Resource Centre and member of the Justice Committee) as well as Ras Lumumba (Priest of Church of Haile Selassie I), and Tacuma’s brother Mandela Maloney.  Also present was the mother of I’Akobi and other Rastafari Elders. (more…)

by Philippe Aimey (www.nationnews.com)

MERE DAYS before the Coroner’s inquest into the death of former Barbados Exhibition winner I’Akobi Maloney , the Justice Committee has upped the ante in its fight to get an independent investigation.

Clearly stating it was not questioning the office of the Coroner, members of the committee said they specifically believed the information that would be analysed during the November 10 inquest should come from an independent body outside of the Royal Barbados Police Force.

Speaking during a Press conference at the I’Akobi Youth Resource Centre, Tweedside Road, St Michael, secretary of the Justice Committee, Ras KudosSage I, said 5200 signatures had been submitted to both the office of Prime Minister David Thompson and Attorney-General Freundel Stuart on Wednesday, citing the independent investigation as critical if justice was to be achieved. (more…)

by Peter Thorne (www.cbc.bb)

Secretary of the Justice Committee, Ras KudosSage I, called for an independent investigation to be conducted into the death of former Barbados Exhibition winner and Engineer, I’Akobi Maloney.

He lauded the late Rastafarian as a man of exemplary character and moral standing. He says the Committee will resist any attempt to vilify Maloney’s character and his adherence to standards of excellence.

He made the call at a news conference at the I’Akobi Youth Resource Centre at Carrington Village in St. Michael. (more…)