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. We are willing to engage with any group in the society. We are the Police Force of Barbados and all communities.
- Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin, SUNDAY SUN April 25.
RASTAFARI profiling is real!
So say members of the Rastafarian community.
But it goes beyond the police force, they said in an interview with the SUNDAY SUN last Friday. Such profiling, they say, extends to the main social institutions and it is a problem that will not go away easily, unless the movement is endorsed fully by the Government.
“This has not now started and it will not finish anytime soon. Outside of the police force, there is profiling within the education and health system and even our own families.
“This is and has been a reality for us,” said Sister Asheba Trotman, chairperson of ICAR and co-chair of the Caribbean Rastafari Organisation (CRO). (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.
That’s what members of the Rastafarian community want the Royal Barbados Police Force to do before there is any meeting between the two bodies to discuss a long list of issues.
This was only one of the conditions outlined by the Justice Committee at a Press conference held at the I’Akobi Youth Resource Centre, Tweedside Road, St Michael, yesterday.
It was called to respond to Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin’s invitation to meet and discuss the issue of “Rasta profiling”. (more…)
I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney, 23, of Hutson’s Alley, Reed Street, St Michael, died on June 17, 2008, at Land Lock, St Lucy. The circumstances of his death were investigated by the Coroner’s Court and last Friday, Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris in her verdict said his death was due to misadventure. The following is Part 4 of an edited version of the verdict which began on Monday. It continues in tomorrow’s SUNDAY SUN.
MALONEY HAD certainly never mentioned any personal problems, any problems with work colleagues or with cement dust and sinusitis nor articulated any problems working at Arawak, apart from the temporary status.
Once again the resignation was a total surprise and he thought the response, “I am taking responsibility for my back”, sounded totally unlike Maloney.
It now appeared to Adesegha that when Maloney came to his lab that morning briefly and then left with his bag to see Collymore he had already made up his mind to resign.
Approximately 10:15 that morning, Maloney called his mother who was at her usual spot in Holetown under the trees close to the taxi stand. The conversation between them, as reported seems contradictory. She reported that he said “Mumz, Mumz, Mumz, I feel real good, I fire the work. I was here in Speightstown for a while just checking the scenes and it feels boring and monotonous. (more…)
THERE MUST BE a full and lawful recognition of the Rastafarian faith if there is to be mutual respect between them and the police.
And this recognition must first come from Government, said secretary of the Justice Committee, Ras KudosSage I.
He was responding to coroner Faith Marshall-Harris’ observation that there was a high level of mistrust between Rastafarians and the police and her call for the Royal Barbados Police Force to examine its relationship with members of the Rastafarian community.
“The first tangible way would be to have the state make some official recognition of Rastafari as a legitimate religious body as is being done in the United States, Jamaica, Italy and other countries.
“That is where everything originates because the ones with the authority tend to neglect the rights of Rastafari and how we worship and practise,” KudosSage argued. (more…)
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…)
The Royal Barbados Police Force needs to look closely at its relationship with the Rastafarian community.
This recommendation came from Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris yesterday as she declared the death of Rastafarian I’Akobi Maloney a misadventure and suggested that he may have felt harassed by the barrage of questions from the police and that he “panicked and made a dash for freedom” when asked to escort them to the station.
The coroner noted that there was a high level of mistrust from the Rastafarian community against the police to the extent that Rastafarians had become paranoid and felt that there were constant forms of victimisation against them, even when that did not exist.
ARMED MEMBERS of the police Task Force were on hand to control the crowd at the Coroner's Court after yesterday's verdict into I'Akobi Maloney's death last year.
Tension
“There seems to be a great deal of tension, fear, mistrust and suspicion by the Rastafarian community, but by the same token, the community needs to look carefully at some of their actions which suggest that they are harbouring a victim mentality and may be looking for injustice where it is not intended,” said the coroner.
She was also very critical of how the police officers dealt with Maloney’s mother Marguerita Maloney, saying that they had given her incorrect information and that their actions may have led to the confusion she experienced surrounding her son’s death. (MB)
Marguerita Maloney, mother of I'Akobi Maloney, being held up by supporters as she mourns the verdict of the inquest into her son's death. (Pictures by Donnay Deane)
I’AKOBI MALONEY’S death was a misadventure.
That was the verdict arrived at by coroner Faith Marshall-Harris at 5 p.m. this afternoon in the controversial case of the 23 year-old Rastafarian. a former Barbados Exhibitioner who allegedly jumped off a 50 ft cliff at the secluded land Lock, St Lucy, last July 17, while being escorted to the station by two police officers.
Ruling out an open verdict and death by suicide, the Magistrate surmised that Maloney may have felt some form of harassment from the police officers, especially when they requested that he accompany them to the station and that “he made a sudden dash for freedom”.
The verdict caused an uproar among family and supporters of the Maloney family who gathered in the courtyard.
I’Akobi’s grieving mother, Marguerita Maloney exited the court, raised her hands in the air, shouted “misadventure” then crumpled to the ground before berating a number of police officers regarding their conduct when I’Akobi died on June 17 last year at Landlock, St. Lucy.
The mother’s cries only fueled emotions, as I’Akobi’s father David, and his young brother Mandela, also started to shout at police officers stationed at the court.
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…)
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…)
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…)
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…)
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…)
