Tivoli Gardens residents relieved Coke taken alive

Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer

The Tivoli Gardens base of accused drug kingpin, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, was calm last night, hours after he was captured by the security forces.

However, some residents braved police warnings to leave the streets before the 6 p.m. curfew to express "relief" that their hero was in custody.

"Relief fi know say him safe and dem no kill him," one woman told The Gleaner, requesting anonymity.

Elderly Tivoli Gardens resident Ina Bernard was also "glad him go in alive because a kill dem did come fi kill him, eno".

The Gleaner news team tried to get a comment from Coke's mother, Pauline 'Patsy' Halliburton, but was turned away by residents who said relatives left instructions that the media be barred from her apartment.

However, a group of women gathered at the entrance to one of the many high-rise buildings in the community did not hesitate to talk about the man many of them still revere as a hero.

One woman, who gave her name as Marion Powell, urged the police to ensure that Coke's constitutional rights were protected.

"Me glad dem take him in and me hope dem treat him very safe and don't hurt him," said Powell.

"Me hope di US (United States) come and get him soon and me hope dem no kill him," she added.

"A talk him fi go a foreign (the US) go talk everything," still another resident advised.

livern.barrett@gleaner