AfriKa CRY BLOOD

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

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…)

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 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 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…)

AT LEAST 25 witnesses will be called during the November 10 inquest into the death of I’Akobi Maloney.

Maloney’s death is one of two fatal incidents grabbing national attention that will be heard by the Coroner’s Court next month.

The other is the July 29, 2007 Joes River bus tragedy which will begin on November 17.

In Maloney’s case Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris is set to examine the deceased’s close relatives and his former co-workers at the Arawak Cement Plant and other witnesses deemed necessary by court as it probes the circumstances leading to the death. (more…)

THE POLICE FILE on the death of I’Akobi Maloney is now in the hands of the coroner.

Commissioner Darwin Dottin told the SUNDAY SUN, yesterday, that the probe into the 23-year-old man’s death had been completed and sent to the Coroner, Magistrate Faith Marshall-Harris.

Earlier this month, attorney Andrew Pilgrim, who has been retained by Maloney’s family, said he was not satisfied with the progress into the young man’s death and called for an independent body to handle any information regarding the case.

Maloney, a former Exhibition winner, died on June 17 at Landlock, Cove Bay, St Lucy. Police reports indicated he jumped to his death from a cliff but Maloney’s family has expressed doubt about those reports. (TS)

by Phillippe Aimey (www.nationnews.com)

ATTORNEY ANDREW PILGRIM is still not satisfied with the progress being made in the I’Akobi Maloney investigation.

Speaking to the DAILY NATION yesterday, Pilgrim said although the police had submitted a report to the Attorney-General, an independent body still should be summoned to handle any information regarding the case.

“It is all well and good to say that you have received this report from the police officers but all right-thinking members of any community must recognise that if one group of people do something which is called into question, these people cannot judge themselves.” (more…)

by Phillippe Aimey (www.nationnews.com)

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…)