Still suffering from a gunshot wound he said he is sure came from a shot fired by a member of the security forces during the 2010 manhunt for West Kingston strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, George Harriott has expressed, 10 years later, that he may have been misled by the Office of the Public Defender to give evidence in the hope that he would have been properly compensated.
In defending her office, Public Defender Arlene Harrison-Henry told The Gleaner that Harriott could not have been tricked, based on page 182 of the official report put together.
Under cross-examination, Mr Harriott stated that it was a ricochet bullet that tore the roof, and at no time did anybody from the Office of the Public Defender tell Mr Harriott, or anybody else, that once they came and gave evidence, they would get money.
When the compensation packages were ready in 2018, I called a Mr Hemmings from the Office of the Public Defender and he told me that I have nothing to worry about.
“Arlene Harrison-Henry, who became Public Defender by then, said the case was closed and that none of us were to come to her office pertaining to the incursion, nor to the justice ministry.
