Who killed Summerfa Dryden?
December 10, 2007
WAKESFIELD, St Catherine - The family of 32-year-old construction worker Summerfa 'Craig' Dryden, whose nude body was found in bushes in the Wakesfield district of Bog Walk last month, are claiming that he was murdered by the police and are calling for an immediate investigation.
Dryden's sister, Karen Dryden, the most vocal of the family, alleged that her kin was murdered by the police because he had, on several occasions, received death threats from a particular cop.
The family's suspicion was further stoked when Karen went to the Linstead Police Station on October 3 to report the disappearance of her brother and was allegedly informed that his body had been found two days earlier, with what appeared to be a bullet wound and was buried after an on-the-spot post-mortem.
She said the police told her that the body was buried immediately due to the bad state of decomposition. But this explanation, instead of offering solace, only added to the family's suspicions.
"No one was contacted and no bulletin sent out reporting that an unidentified body was found or a description of the body. I don't believe the body can decompose so fast in just two days. Something wrong! Something smells fishy!" she complained to the Observer.
"If it wasn't the police who killed him why wouldn't they have made a public announcement? Why was the body removed all the way to Old Harbour [for burial] when he lives in Linstead?" she asked.
"The next thing is that the doctor they claimed did the post-mortem denied it. We want to see justice done," she exclaimed.
The family said they are now in the process of getting the body exhumed for an independent post-mortem and a proper burial. The matter has since been brought to the attention of the Jamaicans For Justice, the minister of national security and the Police Public Complaints Authority.
According to the family, Drysden went missing on September 29. A taxi operator, they said, told them he had transported him to Commodore Crossing (on the Linstead bypass) between 7:30 and 8:00 that evening.
Detective Sergeant Winston Radcliff, the sub-officer in charge of crime for the Bog Walk area, said that on October 1 he received information that a body was found on the McConnell property in Wakesfield district. He said that he visited the scene around 8:30 that morning to find the decomposed, nude body of a male with clothes lying beside him and two empty bags....
Author: Observer Reporter
Source: Jamaica Observer
