WESTERN BUREAU:
PUBLIC DEFENDER, Howard Hamilton, said he would investigate the case of Anthony Dawkins who was released from jail after being detained for three days by the Montego Bay police.
Mr. Dawkins, a resident of Flankers in Montego Bay, was detained on suspicion of robbery with aggravation and shooting with intent, during a two-day joint police/military operation led by Acting Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams. Just under 100 people were caught in the police dragnet last Thursday and Friday in St. James.
Mr. Dawkins was released on Monday after the police concluded he was wrongfully suspected of robbing a Coca Cola truck and shooting the driver in February.
His detention sparked a protest by residents of Flankers last Sunday outside the Barnett Street police lock-up. The protestors demanded his release and brought along an employee of the Coca Cola company, who they said was on the truck at the time of the robbery and was willing to give evidence that Dawkins was not the perpetrator.
The case was brought to Mr. Hamilton's attention on Monday and he asked that Mr. Dawkins send him a statement describing his detention and treatment in jail.
"Let him write a statement and send it in to me. It is matters such as this that I am accused of not investigating," said the Public Defender.
Mr. Dawkins, also called Chucky, said he had paid dearly for the police mistake. He said he was harassed and beaten by the police from the moment he was picked up in Flankers on Friday morning during a raid in the community by the crime team.
"After they picked me up in Flankers and took me to the new station to question me they box me inna me face, fist me inna me stomach and one a dem put me to sit on the floor and stand up on mi foot until it rub off," said Dawkins. "Mi inna pain the whole time. Bwoy, dem treat mi ruff fi nutten at all."
