THE JUSTICE COMMITTEE, a lobby group fighting the cause of the late I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney, plans to take its case to the United Nations.
This was revealed Saturday night on the anniversary of the death of the 23-year-old Rastafarian of Hutson’s Alley, Reed Street, St Michael. Maloney died on June 17, 2008, at Land Lock in St Lucy.
The circumstances of his death were investigated by Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris who returned a verdict of misadventure.
Attorney at law David Comissiong, in his presentation at the anniversary celebrations at the Israel Lovell Foundation, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael, lauded the Justice Committee for its stance. (more…)
THE JUSTICE COMMITTEE has reiterated its call for an independent investigation into the death of 23-year-old chemical engineer Ras I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney on June 17, 2008.
Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris ruled that his death was due to misadventure, that there was no evidence to suggest Maloney had been unlawfully killed by police nor that he had committed suicide.
Maloney is alleged to have jumped off a 50-foot cliff at Landlock, St Lucy, as he was about to be escorted to Holetown Police Station by police.
Last Sunday night, the Justice Committee staged the launch of a DVD chronicling the events of the coroner’s inquest, and a reflection of the former Barbados Exhibitioner’s life as outlined by his mother, Maggie, and brother, Mandela. (more…)
THE ROYAL BARBADOS POLICE FORCE has started an official investigation into the behaviour of the Maloney family after a controversial verdict last month by Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris.
Emotions ran high in the courtyard on April 24 after the coroner deemed that the former Barbados Exhibition winner I’Akobi Maloney had died by misadventure at Landlock, St Lucy, last June 17, the same day he resigned from his job as an engineer at the Arawak Cement Plant.
Verbal Insults
Members of the family, along with members of the Rastafarian community, were on hand for the verdict, and a number of verbal insults and threats were allegedly hurled at police on duty in the courtyard.
Sergeant Wingrove Headley, one of the two policemen who were on duty when Maloney died, and who testified that Maloney ran from them and jumped off a 50-foot cliff to his death, was also in the courtyard and was allegedly the subject of insults and threats.
A reliable source informed the WEEKEND NATION that all the police on duty within the confines of the courtyard that day have been required to give official statements to a superior officer, in an effort to determine if any members of the Maloney family, or the Rastafarian community, went too far with their verbal outrage and, in so doing, broke the law.
“We are doing an investigation. I would rather not comment any further,” said Assistant Superintendent Curvan Harvey yesterday, the man in charge of the investigation.
Maloney’s legal team said yesterday the news of such an investigation was disturbing.
The family’s attorney-at-law David Comissiong said: “The family’s legal team has not been informed of any investigation into its [the family's] actions, but should it be so, that would be very unfortunate.”
Comissiong said emotions were very raw that day and the environment very charged.
Heart-rending
“The responses of the family, as expected, were heart-rending. One would have anticipated the police would have had the maturity to understand the situation and empathise with family members,” he added.
Comissiong said the decision to investigate the matter further was surprising since Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin had “offered an olive branch” to the Rastafarian community, saying he was willing to meet with them.
COMMISSIONER OF POLICE Darwin Dottin says he’s willing to meet with the Rastafarian community to discuss any problems the group might be facing.
But he wants them and Barbados alike to know that the Royal Barbados Police Force does not engage in singling out any particular group, regardless of race, colour or creed.
“I want to state categorically that the Police Force does not enforce the law by targeting any groups. We carry out our duties without fear or favour and with sensitivity,” Dottin told the SUNDAY SUN yesterday.
He was reacting to charges from the Rastafarian community that dreadlocked I’Akobi Maloney met his death through police profiling.
On Friday, Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris in ruling that the 23-year-old Barbados Exhibition winner’s death was by misadventure, urged the force to look closely at its relationship with the Rastafarian community, saying there was a high level of mistrust.
To this end, Dottin said the force was willing to meet with the community to discuss any issues of concern. (more…)
CORONER Faith Marshall-Harris will deliver her verdict today into the death of 23-year-old I’Akobi Maloney.
Maloney, a member of the Rastafarian community and Barbados Exhibitioner, died on June 17 when he allegedly jumped off a 50-foot cliff in Land Lock, St Lucy, while being escorted to the police station by two policemen.
He had just resigned from his job as a chemical engineer at the Arawak Cement Plant.
His death resulted in a public outcry especially from members of the Rastafarian faith who demanded an investigation.
The inquest began last November 10.
Attorneys Andrew Pilgrim and David Commissiong are representing the Maloney family. (MB)
ATTORNEYS Andrew Pilgrim (right) and David Comissiong (second right) speaking to Mandela Maloney, brother of deceased I’Akobi Maloney, as a friend and his mother Marguerita Maloney look on.
DID police officers engage in profiling when they encountered I’Akobi Maloney, a six-foot Rastafarian standing alone on a secluded cliff?
Was there some level of aggression or conflict between them and that Rastaman?
Was he pushed or was he trying to escape?
These were scenarios which attorneys for the Maloney family, Andrew Pilgrim and David Comissiong, submitted to coroner Faith Marshall-Harris during their addresses, when the inquest into the 23 year-old man’s death resumed in the coroner’s court yesterday.
They asked the coroner to reject the evidence of the two police officers Sergeant Wingrove Headley and Constable Anthony Walkes who were with Maloney when he allegedly jumped off a 50-ft cliff to his death.
Comissiong told the court that given that the police had received a report about a boat, a Rastaman and drugs in the area that it was fair to assume they went to Land Lock, St Lucy, “all keyed up”. (more…)
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. (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…)
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.
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…)
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…)
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.
ACCORDING TO A REPORT in THENATION newspaper last Wednesday, Attorney-General Freundel Stuart cavalierly dismissed the People’s Empowerment Party’s call for an effort to be made to stage a demonstrably “independent” investigation into the death of I’Akobi Maloney by quipping: “Mr Comissiong was not down there [at the St Lucy scene of the death] as far as I am aware, and none of the people who are shouting were down there.”
Mr Stuart then proceeded to state that he had received a written report from the police on Maloney’s death; that there was “no recording of anything out of the ordinary” in the report; and that the normal course of events would follow, with the usual Coroner’s Inquest being held.
The PEP is disheartened that our new attorney-general is seemingly unwilling to think “outside of the box”, and to reach for the substance of justice, rather than its mere form. (more…)
GOVERNMENT has received a special report from the Royal Barbados Police Force regarding I’Akobi Maloney’s death.
But Attorney-General Freundel Stuart isn’t rushing to judgment on the former Exhibition winner’s death on June 17 at Landlock, St Lucy.
A justice committee formed to protest the police’s report, as well as the People’s Empowerment Party’s president David Comissiong, issued statements in July calling on the Commissioner of Police to suspend the officers until the investigation was complete.
“That is not normal procedure. You can only do that if the findings reveal that they would have acted improperly . . . if there is evidence to prove it. Mr Comissiong was not down there as far as I am aware, and none of the people who are shouting were down there,” Stuart told the DAILY NATION. (more…)
by Mr. Cummings (Secretary - Hamilton Lashley M.P.)
At an emancipation ceremony held on August 8, 2008, I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney was awarded posthumously as a positive role model for the youth and for his outstanding work in the country and community. Margaret Maloney, mother of I’Akobi, received the award on his behalf from Mr. Hamilton Lashley M.P.
Among those awarded for their emancipatory contributions to the Pan-Afrikan movement included David Comissiong, Buddy Larrier, Olutoye Walrond, Trevor Prescod and Elombe Mottley. Throughout the proceedings, high accolades were sent to the Justice Committee for the work it was pursuing.
Mr. Lashley said that he would further support the efforts of the Committee by soliciting signatures from his constituency for the petition. The ceremony at the Meadow Road Pavilion in Wildey, St. Michael was well attended and proved to be an impactful close of the 2008 Season of Emancipation.
FULL SUSPENSION pending the outcome of an independent investigation.
That is what the newly-formed Justice Committee is requesting for those police officers who were present at the scene of I’Akobi Maloney’s death.
Maloney met his death at Cove Bay, Landlock, St Lucy on June 17.
In a statement released yesterday, the committee highlighted various demands regarding the investigation being carried out by the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF).
One demand was that the police (peace) officers “who were present at the scene at the time of the death of the late Ras Tacuma [Maloney] be immediately relieved of their duties [paid suspension] . . . since this is reasonable, procedurally fair and proactively preventing the obstruction of justice”.
Another demand was “an independent and transparent investigation be conducted by an unbiased team of regional or private investigators”. (more…)
