West Kingston Enquiry: Tivoli resident denies claims made in signed witness statement

A resident of Tivoli Gardens this morning revealed that a witness statement she signed in 2011 that has been tendered before the West Kingston Commission of Enquiry contains claims she did not make.

This disclosure by Lilieth James came after a section of the statement, given at the Legal Aid Clinic on May 4, 2011, was read to her while she testified before the commission.

Chairman of the commission Sir David Simmons read from the statement in which James claimed that she saw soldiers enter a house by kicking down the door.

According to the statement, James indicated that she heard gunfire in the house then realised that two young men, who she identified as Martin and Oshane Lindsay, were in the house.

In addition, the statement indicated that a police car later came and removed the bodies.

However, after hearing the excerpt James said she did not see this happen and could not explain how that evidence got in her witness statement.

She insisted that she did not relate this account to the person who took the statement.

Meanwhile, James recounted how she became frightened after two loud explosions shook her house during the May 2010 police-military operations in her west Kingston community.

She told the West Kingston Commission of Enquiry that the first loud explosion shattered glass items in her house and a second shook the structure.

James, who is heavy set and walks with the aid of a cane, said this happened while she was under a bed talking to three church sisters on the telephone.

James said following the episode she left her house and went to stay with relatives.

She said she had to clear pieces of concrete and other debris from her veranda to get out of her house.

The elderly Tivoli gardens resident further testified that while outside she observed a large hole in the concrete ground of a neighbour’s yard.