On May 24, 2010, 800 soldiers and 370 police officers stormed into Tivoli Gardens, an impoverished district in the capital of Jamaica. Their aim was to restore state authority in this part of Kingston and to arrest Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who was wanted for extradition to the United States on drug and arms trafficking charges. The incursion was the culmination of nine months of national political turmoil. The first aim was achieved, but the second was not, and only at great cost. Around 70 civilians and three members of the security forces were killed. The authors constituted a small group of international forensic pathologists who, at the request of the Public Defender and over a four-week period from mid-June, observed the autopsies of the civilians. This paper describes some of the outcomes of this work, set within the evaluation of the incursion by the Commission of Enquiry. The Enquiry concluded there was evidence of at least 15 extrajudicial killings and was highly critical of many other aspects of the operation and its aftermath.
Statistical Institute of Jamaica [Internet].Kingston: Statistical Institute of Jamaica; c2017. Population by sex: 2002–2013; 2014 Jul 18 [cited 2017 Jun 15]. Available from: http://statinja.gov.jm/demo_socialstats/population.aspx.
Australian dictionary of biography [Internet].Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; c2006-17. Eyre, Edward John (1815–1901); 1966 [cited 2017 Jun 18]. Available from: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/eyre-edward-john-2032/text2507.
Report on the situation of human rights in Jamaica [Internet].Washington: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; c2012. Para 42; [cited 2017 Jun 26]; p. 16. Available from: https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/docs/pdf/Jamaica2012eng.pdf.
8.
Interim report to parliament concerning investigations into the conduct of the security forces during the state of emergency declared May, 2010—West Kingston/Tivoli Gardens 'Incursion'—the killing of Mr. Keith Oxford Clarke and related matters: bundle of appendices [Internet].Kingston: Office of the Public Defender; c2013 Appendix 28; [cited 2017 Jun 26]; p. 115. Available from: nlj.gov.jm/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Tivoli_Report.pdf.
Interim report to parliament concerning investigations into the conduct of the security forces during the state of emergency declared May, 2010—West Kingston/Tivoli Gardens 'Incursion'—the killing of Mr. Keith Oxford Clarke and related matters: bundle of appendices [Internet].Kingston: Office of the Public Defender; c2013. Para 4.2; [cited 2017 Jun 26]; p. 10 Available from: nlj.gov.jm/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Tivoli_Report.pdf.
18.
Interim report to parliament concerning investigations into the conduct of the security forces during the state of emergency declared May, 2010—West Kingston/Tivoli Gardens 'Incursion'—the killing of Mr. Keith Oxford Clarke and related matters: bundle of appendices [Internet].Kingston: Office of the Public Defender; c2013. Para 72.2.3; [cited 2017 Jun 26]. p. 193. Available from: nlj.gov.jm/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Tivoli_Report.pdf.
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner [Internet].Geneva: United Nations; c1996-2017. UN rights office launches global guidelines for investigating unlawful killings: the revised Minnesota Protocol; 2017 May 24 [cited 2017 Jun 15]. Available from: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21661&LangID=E.
Interim report to parliament concerning investigations into the conduct of the security forces during the state of emergency declared May, 2010—West Kingston/Tivoli Gardens 'Incursion'—the killing of Mr. Keith Oxford Clarke and related matters: bundle of appendices [Internet].Kingston: Office of the Public Defender; c2013. Appendix 1 [cited 2017 Jun 26]. 134 p. Available from: nlj.gov.jm/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Tivoli_Report.pdf.
Interim report to parliament concerning investigations into the conduct of the security forces during the state of emergency declared May, 2010—West Kingston/Tivoli Gardens 'Incursion'—the killing of Mr. Keith Oxford Clarke and related matters: bundle of appendices [Internet].Kingston: Office of the Public Defender; 2013. 134 p. Available from: nlj.gov.jm/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Tivoli_Report.pdf.
41.
Interim report to parliament concerning investigations into the conduct of the security forces during the state of emergency declared May, 2010—West Kingston/Tivoli Gardens 'Incursion'—the killing of Mr. Keith Oxford Clarke and related matters: bundle of appendices [Internet].Kingston: Office of the Public Defender; c2013. Para 53.2.0 [cited 2017 Jun 26]; p. 120. Available from: nlj.gov.jm/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Tivoli_Report.pdf.
