Despite the fact that he does not have jurisdiction in the US, the family of Jawara McIntosh, Peter Tosh’s son, want Terrence Williams, the commissioner of The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) to help them understand how the reggae singer came to be in a coma.
Jawara, 37, was allegedly beaten in a US lock-up on February 21 while serving time for marijuana.
“We would want INDECOM, if they would be willing, to write a letter to the United States Department of Justice requesting an investigation into the brutal (beating) of Jawara while in custody at Bergen County jail. It would be great to have Jamaica support the family in their fight for justice in the United States,” attorney Jasmine Rand said.
Jawara was serving a six-month prison sentence arising from a 2013 charge. Then, some 651/2 pounds of ganja were found in the trunk of a rental car he was driving.
Police said he was travelling with a passenger, 24-year-old Carlotta Leslie, and both “denied any knowledge that the marijuana was in the vehicle”.
NO LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS
Rand admits the help being sought from Jamaica “would not have any legal ramifications or significance, but the support would have significance to the family”.
She said the Tosh family has requested the US justice department to conduct an independent investigation so that the members can learn the circumstances concerning the beating of Jawara.
“Peter Tosh was a human rights advocate. He fought to legalize ganja and he suffered the same form of brutality in Jamaica and now, years later, his son is suffering the same brutality here in the United States. We all have to get up, stand up and continue to fight for the rights that Peter Tosh fought for in his lifetime, and for which his son has now paid the price, laying in a coma,” the attorney said.
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