DPP rules no criminal charges in locks-cutting case of Nzinga King
Published:Wednesday | February 9, 2022 | 5:08 PM
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Paula Llewellyn has ruled that the police corporal implicated in the haircutting incident involving Rastafarian Nzinga King should not be charged.
The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) had also reportedly arrived at a similar opinion.
The DPP had been awaiting a forensic examination report for the past three weeks to complete her ruling.
The matter was initially being investigated by the police inspectorate before it was taken over by INDECOM.
King, a 19-year-old student from Lionel Town in Clarendon alleged that her dreadlocks were trimmed by a policewoman while in custody at the Four Paths Police Station in Clarendon last year.
King, who was arrested for disorderly conduct stemming from a June 2021 incident at a taxi park in May Pen, in the parish, also alleges that her dreadlocks were cut because the police said they were a suicide risk.
The allegations sparked outrage from the Rastafarian community.
King who was also charged with a breach of the Disaster Risk Management Act appeared in the Clarendon Parish Court last Thursday to answer the charge of failure to wear a mask in public.
A trial date has been for June 15.
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