West Kingston Enquiry: Sir David to rule on after-action report on the use of mortars soon

Chairman of the West Kingston Commission of Enquiry Sir David Simmons is to rule shortly on whether the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) must produce the after-action report on the use of mortars during the May 2010 operations in Tivoli Gardens.

This follows an application by the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), supported by the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), for the report to be turned over to the commission.

However, in objecting to the application, attorney for the JDF, Linton Gordon pointed that INDECOM has been probing the conduct of the operations for several years and questioned the agency's motive for requesting the document at this time.

Gordon also pointed to a ruling the commission made in April setting out the documents the army was compelled to produce and indicated that the after action report on the use of mortars was not one of those documents.

However, INDECOM boss Terrence Williams countered, saying the report was not among the documents considered by the commission at the time the ruling was made.

Williams insisted that the report is extremely important to the work of the commission.