Two of three female robbers were reportedly caught red-handed while plundering a pharmacy in Discovery Bay, St. Ann, on Friday (February 5). According to reports, the women were observed taking items off the pharmacy shelf and loading them into a bag, and then they attempted to leave the store without paying Two were held, and handed over to the police, while the third managed to escape in a waiting car.
According to reports, the three women are believed to be the perpetrators of numeroues robberies of bars, roadside jerk spots and shops across the island, using a Toyota motor car as their getaway vehicle. In one particular incident, which happened just outside Old Harbour in St. Catherine, it is alleged that the women ordered jerked pork, and when the barmaid went to fill the order, they robbed the till of an undetermined sum of money and also stole two quarts of Hennessy.
The police are still searching for the third robbery, while her two cronies will appear in the St. Ann’s Bay Criminal Court some time this week.
Washington Boulevard, a four lane dual carriage way, is for many, a fast and way to get into and out of the Corporate Area when traveling west or returning from that direction. For residents of Maverley and Drewsland – two communities that face each other on opposite sides of ‘The Boulevard’ – however, this road represents an imaginary border line which they cross at their own risk. Why? Because heavily armed gangsters from the two communities reportedly patrol the area on the hunt for anyone who ’strays’ and crosses the border line.
Unfortunately for Tursha Lee, a 23 year old Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) private who was a resident of Morgan Pass in Clarendon and who had stayed overnight with his sister in Drewsland, he was apparently unaware of the danger of crossing the border, and paid with his life earlier yesterday morning.
According to police reports, shortly before seven yesterday morning, Lee left Drewsland and went to a bus stop on the other side of Washington Boulevard. While at the bus stop, he was pounced on by a group of men who shot him multiple times, killing him on the spot.
Numerous persons have reportedly been killed in this area of Washington Boulevard over the past two years; for no other reason than because they lived in Maverley or Drewsland and had ’strayed’.
A policeman reportedly arrested his own mother recently, after she had stolen $52,000 from a betting shop in Bog Walk, St. Catherine, and had eluded police investigators for four days.
According to reports, the woman worked as a cashier and operator of the betting shop’s Supreme Venture’s machine. On January 19, her boss went to check the previous day’s sales, but found there was no cash where it should have been. The matter was reported to the police, who went in search of her; but she was not found. Her policeman son reportedly heard about the theft, caught up with her, arrested her, and handed her over to investigators.
In the Spanish Town Criminal Court last week, she pleaded guilty to the charge of ‘larceny as a servant’. The resident magistrate adjourned the matter until March 23, when she will be sentenced.
A pregnant woman, 25-year-old Natalee ‘Cathy’ Thompson of Wellside Lane, Old Harbour in St. Catherine, was shot and killed last night at her home.
According to reports, at approximately 8:30 last night, Thompson (who was eight months pregnant), was seen running from her house, and she collapsed a short distance away. She had received multiple gunshots wounds.
Earl Anderson, a mute (dumb & deaf) from Windsor Castle in Portland, caused a stir in Stewart Town, St. Mary a few days ago, as residents of the seaside town thought that he was a Haitian refugee who had fled earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince and arrived on their shores.
Word that Haitian refugees had arrived started spreading on Thursday afternoon (January 28), after residents claimed they saw a small yellow and white paddle boat off the coast in Stewart Town about 12 o’clock with five men and alerted the police. The rumor exploded when residents saw Anderson riding his bicycle from the beach area in Stewart Town, and assumed that he was one of the ‘men on the boat’ because he was wet.
Because he is a mute, Anderson could not communicate with the residents, and they immediately assumed he was Haitian. A resident reportedly offered Anderson a bath, food, clothing, and Anderson reportedly wrote on a piece of paper that he and his family had survived the devastating quake.
Residents called the police who took Anderson to the Port Maria Hospital where, with the help of a translator, they tried to question him. The story later unfolded however, as Anderson’s mother – Mavis Anderson – saw him on TVJ’s Prime Time News report.
47-year-old Icylin Jones was yesterday sentenced to nine months’ hard labour for breaching the Child Care and Protection Act.
It was revealed in court that in March 2009, Jones had received two years’ probation, after her two daughters (who are 13 and 14 years old respectively), were caught out at a dance in Portmore, St. Catherine.
She was told at the time, that she should report to the probation department and abide by its recommendations. However, earlier this month, the children were again held by the police in Portmore. An investigation led to Jones being arrested and charged with negligence.
Before handing down the sentence, the resident magistrate stated that Jones showed no remorse and was disrespectful to the court, and that her breach of a prior probation order validated a custodial sentence.
The resident magistrate also informed the accused that her social-enquiry report indicated that her children were virtually living on the streets, and that Jones put her boyfriend ahead of her kids.
The court also ordered that the children remain in state care, and appear in the Children’s Court on February 24.
43 year old Patrick McMasters, of a Gutters address in St. Catherine, appeared before the Old Harbour Resident Magistrate’s court recently, where he faced charges of driving away a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, and obtaining credit by fraud.
Allegations are that on December 31, 2009 at approximately 8:30 p.m., McMasters went into a churchyard (during the Church’s New Year’s Eve watch night service) at Spring Village, St. Catherine, where a Toyota Hiace minbus was parked with the keys in the ignition. He allegedly drove away the bus, and also reportedly went to a gas station along the Old Harbour Road, asked for $5000 diesel oil, and after being served, he drove away without paying.
At about 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day, McMasters was stopped at a police roadblock, and subsequently arrested after he failed to provide the police with the bus’ documents.
McMasters pleaded not guilty to the charges in court, and was remanded into custody for psychiatric evaluation. He is to return to court on February 25, when his case will be mentioned again.
Here’s an interesting listing – Jamaica’s year-to-year murder rate between 1970 and 2009. At left is the year, and to its immediate right is the number of murders recorded for that year.
1970 – 152
1971 – 145
1972 – 170
1973 – 227
1974 – 195
1975 – 266
1976 – 367
1977 – 409
1978 – 381
1979 – 351
1980 – 889
1981 – 490
1982 – 405
1983 – 424
1984 – 484
1985 – unavailable
1986 – 449
1987 – 442
1988 – 414
1989 – 439
1990 – 542
1991 – 561
1992 – 629
1993 – 653
1994 – 690
1995 – 780
1996 – unavailable
1997 – unavailable
1998 – 953
1999 – 849
2000 – 887
2001 – unavailable
2002 – 1045
2003 – 975
2004 – 1471
2005 – 1674
2006 – 1340
2007 – 1574
2008 – 1601
2009 – 1680
Two higglers, 25 year old Dwayne Derby and 35 year old David Hutchinson, appeared before the Spanish Town Criminal Court yesterday, where they faced joint charges of warehouse breaking, larceny and receiving stolen property. They are accused of breaking a warehouse and stealing 900 pairs of shoes valued at J$500,000.
According to the police, on the morning of January 2 this year, the owners of a warehouse in the White Marl industrial complex in Spanish Town opened for business, and discovered that 50 cases containing 900 pairs of shoes valued at J$1/2 million were missing. The matter was reported to the police, and, acting on intelligence, the police went to the Falmouth market in Trelawny on January 5, and recovered 94 pairs of the shoes, seized $16,700 in cash and arrested and charged both men.
Both men pleaded innocent to the charges, and had their bail extended. They are to return to court on March 5 when the matter will be mentioned again.
Conmen posing as bailiffs, have reportedly been calling hire purchase customers of at least one major furniture and appliance chain store here in Jamaica, threatening customers to make their hire purchase payments, or suffer repossession of their goods. It is not fully clear though, whether any of the customers had actually paid over any money to the fake bailiffs or what sums the conmen have been requesting.
Sources indicate that the fact that the unscrupulous callers had the names and numbers of actual customers, everything points to an inside job (a store employee divulging the information).
Since becoming aware of the scam, one chain has reportedly placed radio advisories cautioning the public about the fake bailiffs. They’ve also sought to advise the public that bailiffs and collectors must present proper identification when they visit customers, and should issue a valid receipt to customers whenever cash is collected.
