Big twist in haircut saga - Teenager’s story questioned by peers

Three persons who claim to be associates of Princess Nzinga King have questioned her claim that her dreadlocked hair was trimmed by a cop while she was locked up at the Four Paths Police Station in Clarendon.

They told THE WEEKEND STAR yesterday that they were stunned by media reports of a high-level investigation being launched to ascertain how King, 19, lost her dreadlocks. They said that days before the matter came to public attention, King told them that she cut off her hair. All three persons have requested that their identities be protected. They said King told them that she decided to cut her dreadlocks because she saw some white things looking like fungus in her hair.

"She didn't mention anything about police, so it was a shocker to me when I read the paper on Tuesday that the police cut her hair," one person said. A similar story was relayed by another person who claims to have knowledge of the situation.

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She say when she come out Monday [July 26] she start see some white thing ina har hair like fungus, and a so she end up cut har hair."

King, a Rastafarian, alleged that her hair was trimmed while she was in custody at the station on July 22. The teenager was taken into custody on a charge of disorderly conduct following an altercation with the police. Her mother, Shirley McIntosh, said she was held at the station until July 26.

The ordeal arose from a June 29 incident. She was fined $6,000 or 10 days' imprisonment. The fine was not immediately paid on July 22 and King was held until the 26th when her mother paid the money and went to retrieve her. She said that she did not initially recognise her daughter.

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"Them cut off her hair, bald off her locks and she looked like someone that was mad," McIntosh said. The implicated cops have denied cutting King's hair. Since then, the Police High Command, the Independent Commission of Investigations and the Office of the Public Defender are undertaking separate probes to ascertain the truth.

One of King's peers, who claims to have been interviewed by the police, said she has decided to come forward because the allegations in the public domain do not match up with the disclosure allegedly made to her by King.

"Mi upset cause from last night mi a cuss because she tell wi a thing and now she a talk say police cut it. It don't look good because di woman can lose har job," the woman said.

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Meanwhile, Isat Buchanan, the lawyer retained by King's family, said he is aware that at least one person has questioned the veracity of his client's claims.

"The only thing I can tell you is that there is a charge called creating public mischief and perverting the course of justice, and any student with ambition to be a nurse should remember that they will be required to pass a fit and proper test, and so when you go and make statements and it is proven wrong to pervert the course of justice, the hands of the law will find you. Everybody who have dem talk must back it up," Buchanan said.

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