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.
