WITTER... will be asked to review police findings

BIGWOODS, St Elizabeth - Not satisfied with the outcome of a probe into the recent fire which damaged agricultural crops valued at $26 million in sections of St Elizabeth, Agriculture and Lands Minister Dr Christopher Tufton said he will be asking Public Defender Earl Witter to review its findings.

"On Monday morning I am going to prepare a letter, attaching a copy of the police report that was sent to me, and send it to the Public Defender, asking for his intervention," Tufton told the affected farmers at the Bigwoods Primary School yesterday.

The farmers had gathered in the schoolroom to hear from Tufton, who is also their member of parliament, the findings of the police probe into the massive fire, which ravaged 64 hectares of crops in the communities of Ivor Cottage, Bigwoods, Retreat and Retirement, just over two months ago.
Approximately 90 farmers were affected by the blaze, which also left 64 goats, valued at $200,000, dead.

The farmers in the affected communities have alleged that the fire was caused by the burning of ganja fields by narcotics police during an operation in Bigwoods.

At Tufton's request, the Police High Command - less than a week after the fire - launched a probe to ascertain the cause of the blaze.

Tufton had made it clear then, that if at the end of the probe the narcotics police are found culpable, then he would be making representation to the Ministry of National Security on behalf of the farmers for compensation.

Yesterday, the agriculture minister told the farmers that the investigations into the fire, conducted by the Black River Police, have concluded that there is no evidence to suggest that the fire had resulted from the actions of the narcotics police.

He said the report stated, however, that the narcotics police had lit a fire on the day of the blaze to destroy ganja plants, but according to the findings, it was done "some distance" from where the fire that ravaged the crops started.

"They continued by suggesting that because they were two separate fires - although in the same vicinity - there is no evidence that the operation of the narcotics police was the cause of the fire that destroyed the crops and livestock of the farmers in the area," the MP said.

But Tufton said the findings of the probe have raised a number of questions.

"... for example, everybody knows that in drought conditions where you have a lot of flammable materials, sparks can create fires and can travel distances and create separate fires, but originating from the same source," he explained.

"The report, however, did not speak to that," he stressed.
He told the farmers that the probe did not "determine liability", and asked them whether they wanted to accept the report or take the matter to the Public Defender.

But the angry farmers told the agriculture minister to ask the Public Defender to intervene.

Tufton told the farmers that he was convinced that more can be done to determine liability and promised to challenge the findings of the report.