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.
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 recently, Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris in her verdict said his death was due to misadventure. The following is Part 6 of an edited version of the verdict which began on Monday. It concludes in tomorrow’s DAILY NATION.
ONCE AGAIN, Walkes, who was particularly sensitive to the situation and who had conveyed as much by way of the time-honoured gesture showing that someone is deranged, asked why he was on the cliff and he said he was under a lot of pressure. Walkes asked him why, Maloney said his back was hurting him…
Walkes then wanted to know from Maloney if he had ever seen a psychiatrist. Headley took Maloney’s ID which had been found in his wallet and went to the van and reported to Operations Control. He told Operations Control that he believed that Maloney’s faculties were not intact and that they would bring him in…
When Headley returned, he told Maloney that he would like him to accompany them to the police station to interview him. These may have seemed like ominous words to a young man of extreme sensitivity… (more…)
The question of how I’Akobi met his death has still been left unanswered after approximately 10 months of deliberations both inside and out of court. Although the coroner had dismissed the idea of I’Akobi going to the cliff with the intention of taking his own life, the verdict of misadventure is still debatable.
In her context it was defined as the act of running from the police which inadvertently resulted in his death. Our family vehemently refutes the coroner’s claim in this regard; as the act of running towards what the police perceived to be a 60 ft. drop head first with hands outstretched in this ‘mad’ dash for freedom quintessentially describes the act of suicide.
Although the coroner removed the police’s postulations of why he had taken his life that being (depression, homosexuality, madness and drug association), she inadvertently or intentionally accepted the single report submitted by Headley and Walkes as the irrevocable truth. (more…)
That was the clear battle-cry from the Rastafarian community yesterday, moments after Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris determined that former Exhibition winner I’Akobi Maloney dies by misadventure last year.
Tension reached fever-pitch in the small courtyard of the Coroner’s Court on Roebuck Street at 5 p.m., when grieving mother Marguerita Maloney exited the court, raised her hands on 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 fuelled emotions, as I’Akobi’s father David, and his younger brother Mandela, also started to shout at police officers stationed at the court.
“I have pictures of my son’s body, brutalised, manhandled,” she said.
“I call on the ancestors to deal with all the perpetrators… This is only an earth verdict,” she said before collapsing for a second time.
Sergeant targeted
Most of the insults, however, were hurled at Sergeant Wingrove Headley, one of the two officers who were on hand at Landlock, and alleged that I’Akobi suddenly ran away from their custody, and jumped over a cliff, 50 feet to his death.
A stoic Headley stood outside the court for a few minutes while more than 30 Rastafarians shouted accusations at him.
In a corner, the Maloney’s attorney Andrew Pilgrim broke down in tears, then receded to the empty courtroom, as the grieving mother was comforted by supporters.
At the gate of the court, armed members of the Royal Barbados Police Force’s Task Force stood on watch, automatic weapons at the ready in case of trouble. Inside, uniformed cops quickly escorted the coroner to her private office after the verdict, then told the crowd to leave. It was 5:07 p.m.
The Rastafarian members, all decked out in red, helped Marguerita to her feet, but continued to hurl insults, and vowed the movement would continue to seek justice.
“This is not the end. This verdict is not the end. This is just the beginning. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” father David screamed, whilst pointing and waving a flag of Ethiopia. (more…)
I’AKOBI MALONEY was not killed by police, neither did he commit suicide. His death was ruled a misadventure.
SERGEANT WINGROVE HEADLEY (right) being escorted into the officer of the Coroner's Court by uniformed officers yesterday.
Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris handed down this decision yesterday six months after the start of the inquiry into the death of the 23-year-old Exhibition winner whom police said jumped off a 50-ft cliff at Landlock, St Lucy, last June 17, as he was about to be escorted to the Holetown Police Station.
The coroner found there was no evidence to substantiate that Maloney had been unlawfully killed by the police or that he committed suicide.
She surmised that Maloney, a Rastafarian, may have felt some form of harassment when the police requested that he accompany them to the station and so “he panicked and made a sudden dash for freedom”.
But while the coroner cited the mutual distrust between the Rastafarian community and the police and called for improved relations between the two, the verdict was not accepted by the many Rastafarian brethren who turned out yesterday.
They gathered in the courtyard surrounding Maloney’s grieving mother, Marguerita, and let it be known that there would be no peace between them and the police.
Marshall-Harris spent close to two hours reviewing the case and analysing the evidence. (more…)
TO screams of “Murderer”, “You kill my son”, “Dis is just de beginning”, was how the Coroner’s verdict of “death by misadventure” was greeted yesterday by Marguerita Maloney, mother of I’Akobi Tacuma Maloney, and other relatives and friends.
It was minutes before 5 o’clock when Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris delivered her verdict at the Coroner’s Court, Roebuck Street, St Michael, packed with Maloney’s relatives and friends including his mother and brother, Mandela.
After the Coroner left the courtroom and returned to her chambers, Maloney’s mother and others re-joined the Rastafarian brethren in the courtyard which included his father, David.
Dozens had earlier lined the courtyard but had to remain outside during the verdict for lack of space.
Pointing and calling names of the two officers who were first on the scene at Landlock, St Lucy, where the 23-year-old chemical engineer died on June 17, 2008, Marguerita told Sergeant Wingrove Headley and Police Constable Wendell Walkes… “De inquest end, but dis is just de beginning. De Rasta brethren gine get you.” (more…)
LEAVING THE COURT: Constable Anthony Walkes, followed by chief investigator into the I’Akobi Maloney death, ASP Curwen Harvey, and Sergeant Wingrove Headley. Walkes and Headley were the two officers who were with Maloney when he allegedly jumped off a cliff.
“WHAT REASON would the police have to harass I’Akobi Maloney? asked police presenter Station Sergeant Martin Jones on Monday when he delivered his address to coroner Faith Marshall-Harris.
“A man who was so intelligent. He was not a criminal. He did not have any convictions. He was not a person who was wanted by the police so we see no reason why the police would go after him,” Jones stated.
He submitted that the reason why Sergeant Wingrove Headley and Constable Anthony Walkes gave their statements 13 days after the incident, was because both officers were traumatised after Maloney pulled away from them and jumped over the cliff.
“They were totally traumatised over what happened on that day. No police officer would have been able to give a statement,” Jones declared, pointing out that the station diary did contain an account of the incident the day after. (more…)
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…)
A NEW WITNESS took the stand yesterday at the I’Akobi Maloney Inquest at Coroner’s Court.
Shon Boyce, who admitted to being a homosexual from his childhood days said he was introduced to Jason Collymore, a former witness at the inquest, in 2003.
He was introduced to Collymore, he said, and they subsequently got involved in a same-sex relationship where he was the outside man, since Collymore, who works at the Cement Plant, told him that he had a Rastaman and he, Boyce, should never come to the house when the man was there.
He said Collymore lived at White Hall Main Road in an apartment, and he did not know the Rastaman’s name as it was never told to him, but he used to pass a man on the stairway going down smiling as he would be going up. (more…)
Harvey (centre) leaving the inquest yesterday evening followed by Headley (left) and Walkes. Picture by Sandy Pitt.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Curvan Harvey was grilled by attorney Andrew Pilgrim yesterday when he gave evidence at the Coroner’s Inquest into the death of 23-year-old I’Akobi Maloney.
ASP Harvey was the senior officer who carried out the investigations into the incident. He was questioned extensively about how he conducted the investigations and the statements he obtained, particularly those from the two police officers, Sergeant Wingrove Headley and Constable Wendell Walkes, who were with Maloney when he allegedly jumped off a 50ft cliff at Land Lock, St Lucy.
He was also criticised by the attorney for failing to carry out a scientific examination of the firearms which were issued to the two officers.
I’AKOBI MALONEY was actively searching for another job.
His younger brother, Mandela Maloney, disclosed this at the Coroner’s Inquest into his death on Monday.
He told the court that his brother, who obtained an engineering degree at the St Augustine Campus in Trinidad was “dissatisfied with the conditions at the Arawak Cement Plant” and felt that the conditions there were not challenging enough.
Mandela pointed out that his brother started developing asthma and sinusitis and he believed it was because of the dust at the St Lucy plant. (more…)
I’AKOBI MALONEY “jumped” 50 feet down from a cliff at Land Lock, St Lucy, and not 80 feet as originally stated by police.
The correct measurement was given by Sergeant Roger Mayers, a scenes-of-collision reconstructionist.
Mayers, who was deemed an expert witness by Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris, testified during the inquest into Maloney’s death on Monday and produced a sketch he made of the scene detailing all the relevant measurements.
He told the court that he reconstructed the scene on August 6, as pointed out to him by Sergeant Wingrove Headley and Constable Wendell Walkes, the two policemen who were with Maloney when he “jumped” over the cliff. (more…)
A THREAT has been made against one of the police officers who was with I’Akobi Maloney at Land Lock, St Lucy, when he died.
The DAILY NATION understands that a stone was thrown through the window of Acting Sergeant Walter Headley’s home last week, wrapped in newspaper with the words: “You are a dead man Mr Headley”, written on it.
According to a senior police officer, the newspaper also carried a report of Headley’s testimony at the Coroner’s Inquest into Maloney’s death.
The police are now investigating the matter. (more…)
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…)
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…)
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…)
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…)
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.
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…)
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.
