The attorney for Rastafarian woman Nzinga King says she will continue her pursuit of justice by filing a lawsuit after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) recommended that no criminal charges be laid against the female constable she alleged cut her hair.
In the ruling yesterday, the DPP said there was not enough evidence on which to pursue criminal proceedings and there were inconsistencies in King's statements.
But King's attorney, Isat Buchanan, says he is not surprised by the ruling.
“I think if there is one human being that would have been surprised by the ruling, I would like to speak with them. The ruling from the DPP’s office is evidentiary - given the tone of INDECOM during the investigation where further detailed questions were asked to elaborate - it’s not surprising that I’m hearing about inconsistencies in a statement which is a matter for the jury - so I’m not surprised.”
King claims her locks were cut while she was being held at the Four Paths Police Station in Clarendon on July 22, 2021.
According to her attorney, his client stands by her allegations.
He disclosed that the matter will now be taken to the civil court.
In the meantime, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has explained why it took months to deliver a ruling on the Nzinga King matter.
Deputy DPP Adley Duncan says the office wanted to be very thorough and fair to King given the sensitive nature of the issues.
He says the office received the file in November last year and had to go through the evidence and carry out research.
After picking up inconsistencies in King's statements clarification had to be requested.
“So basically, she is the only person who has this particular account and even her account isn’t consistent across the different statements that she gave on really important things - so when you send the questions to her for clarification - all she says is that every other person is lying. So we are left with that - so we said - let’s see what the forensics are saying - because if you look at a lock - you can see if it was cut or if it was pulled,” he said.
And lecturer in Rastafari Studies at the Institute of Caribbean Studies at the University of the West Indies Mona, Dr. Jahlani Niaah, says the Nzinga King case will not harm Rastafarianism as a movement but acts as a reminder of certain changes that need to be made.
“I don’t think it harms it - there are reasonable policemen and women who have no beef with Rastafarian but I also know that there is systemic approach which says “dis bwoy” is someone that I can profile in various different ways.”
Dr Niaah is however optimistic that there can be some good coming from the matter.
“It’s a number of things that we are hoping to highlight about our community and our rights and our freedom. So irrespective of the outcome of this, i don’t think it changes the facts of the matter that we still have a far way to go in Jamaica as far as it relates to just being progressive about the African presence,” said Dr Niaah who was a guest on Beyond the Headlines.
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