Coroner worried about family’s witnesses call
AS CORONER FAITH MARSHALL-HARRIS prepares to conclude her investigation into the death of 23-year-old I’Akobi Maloney, she has expressed concern about witnesses which the Maloney family want her to summon.
When the inquest continued yesterday, the coroner said she received a request on January 19 from David Comissiong, who is representing the Maloney family, suggesting that she should hear evidence from Trinidadian Adana Jacobs - Maloney’s former girlfriend.
But she stated that she would not be prepared to have Jacobs brought to Barbados unless her evidence was relevant to the case.
“The Coroner’s Court is never and will never be in a position of fishing. We must see a clear correlation and the evidence must be relevant,” she stated, pointing out that she had asked the police to obtain a statement from Jacobs so that the court could be satisfied about her evidence.
In addition, she also expressed concern about the family’s wish to have pathologist Dr Stephen Jones appear at the inquest.
Coroner Marshall-Harris said that Jones had not performed the post-mortem and would be only making comments on somebody’s notes that he would be perusing and giving opinions as to the person’s conduct of the post-mortem.
She stated that Dr Winskog, who conducted the post-mortem should be present if Jones was summoned.
Scientific probe
The coroner also pointed out that the family requested a scientific investigation into the accuracy of the evidence relating to the sea conditions when Maloney allegedly jumped off a cliff.
She stated that they had contacted the Coastal and Environmental Engineering Solutions Inc. to have a proposal prepared, and their attorneys wanted to know if the expense would be undertaken by Government.
However, the coroner said she had been in consultation with the Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU) and they had informed her that they could give expert evidence based on a high degree of probability of the sea conditions on the day Maloney died or that they could carry out a scientific study of the wave activity and currents on that day, but it would cost in the region of US$30 000.
The coroner stated she would be more inclined to accept the expert evidence from the CZMU in the first instance but if the family was dissatisfied with that, they would have to bring their own scientific evidence, but it would not be paid for by the state.
In response, Comissiong pointed out that Jacob’s evidence would be “very relevant bearing in mind the allegations surrounding the matter”. He also urged the court to hear Jones, given that the family was not allowed to have a doctor present at the post-mortem.
Tags: Adana Jacobs, Coastal and Environmental Engineering Solutions Inc., Coastal Zone Management Unit, Coroner, David Comissiong, Dr. Carl Winskog, Dr. Stephen Jones, Faith Marshall-Harris, pathologist, post mortem, sea tides