Hugh Tate appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where he was found guilty of being cruel to an animal, after he viciously attacked a dog and chopped it 36 times in the head, after which he used a large stone to hit it in the head, causing its death.
The court heard that Tate is the brother of the landlord of the owner of the dog, and that Tate had been abusing her dogs ever since they had an altercation where she stabbed Tate after he had headbutted her. The complainant said that Tate had fled to the country after the dispute, but whenever he came to visit his sibling (the landlord), he would hit the dogs. The complainant said that it occured so frequently that whenever the dogs saw him coming they would run away. She alleged that he had killed three of her dogs.
In court yesterday, Tate (who appeared very amused) denied the allegations, stating that he did not even own a knife or machete. He however admitted throwing a stone which he said hit the dog on its back. Tate is currently on station bail, and scheduled to be sentenced on August 3.
43 year old Radcliffe Plummer of a Trelawny address, appeared in the Trelawny Resident Magistrate’s Court at Ulster Spring yesterday, where he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, after he was convicted of praedial larceny. Notably, as the Resident Magistrate was handing down the sentence, she reportedly told Plummer “By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, not the sweat of another man’s brow.”
The court heard that at about 5:30 pm on May 19, the complainant, Vinton Gordon, went to his yam field at Durham in Trelawny where he saw Plummer digging his yams. Gordon reportedly observed Plummer (whom he knew for many years) for 15 minutes before calling the police. Plummer was held with the stick and machete that he was using to reap the yams, and he was subsequently taken into custody and charged with praedial larceny of 165 pounds of yam.
Plummer entered a plea of guilty on his first appearance in court on July 27, adding that he had planned to compensate Gordon. On July 29, his relatives brought $50,000, which was given to Gordon. After receiving the money, Gordon asked the court for leniency on Plummer’s behalf. Judge Barnes said she was being as lenient as she could under the circumstances, as Plummer’s action was “unconscionable” in a society where everyone wanted to reap what they had not sown. He was given the 18 month sentence where the maximum sentence for the offence is three years.
Speaking earlier this week in Parliament, Minister of Transport and Works – Mike Henry – announced that there were numerous drivers on Jamaica’s roads who had accumulated hundreds of traffic tickets, most of which were unpaid. One specific offender, a bus driver, has reportedly accumulated more than 1,500 traffic tickets over a two year period, and tops the list of Jamaica’s traffic offenders.
According to a recent analysis of Jamaica’s traffic citation data, Henry said there were 11 persons with between 301 and 500 tickets, 55 persons with between 201 and 300 tickets, and 393 motorists with between 101 and 200 tickets. He said the current outstanding fines for traffic violations in Jamaica total over J$3 billion.
36 year old Reita Paige, of Mansfield Heights (also known as Fauklands) in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, appeared in the St. Ann’s Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where she and three of her sons – 18-year-old Odane Smith and two juveniles ages 16 and 14 – faced murder charges in relation to the death of a 17-year-old youth with whom the woman’s daughter was said to have been involved in a relationship.
On July 7, 2010 at approximately 2 a.m., the 17 year old youth (identified as Brian Johnson) reportedly had an argument with Paige’s 14 year old daughter at Johnson’s house in Mansfield Heights. The girl reportedly left and went to her home nearby where she reported the incident to family members. The court heard that Paige and her three sons then armed themselves with a knife and screwdrivers, and went in search of Johnson. He was not seen at his house, but reportedly accosted on a roadway in the community later. It is then alleged that all four attacked Johnson stabbing him multiple times. The blade of the knife reportedly broke in the Johnson’s chest.
When they appeared in court yesterday, Paige and one of her juvenile sons were remanded in custody until August 12. The 14 year old juvenile reportedly has mental problems, and the presiding magistrate ordered that he be assessed by a psychiatrist. He, along with the eldest son (Smith) were each offered bail in the sum of $200,000 with surety. As a condition of their bail, they are to report to the Ocho Rios police on Mondays and Thursdays and a curfew was imposed on them.
The 14 year old girl has since been removed from the home, and sent to a place of safety.
Jamaican-born track & field legend, Merlene Ottey, who became a naturalised citizen of Slovenia in 2002, will make history on July 31 at the European championships, when she competes at the age of 50. Ottey, who has been selected in Slovenia’s 4x100m relay squad for the event (after finishing second in the Slovenian championships), will become the oldest athlete to ever compete at a European Championships. The current record is held by France’s Nicole Brakebusch-Leveque, who was 47 years old when she contested the marathon in the 1998 European Championships
Ottey, won nine Olympic medals while competing for Jamaica at seven Olympic Games. She was 48 years old when she missed out on qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics after failing by 0.28 seconds to attain the qualifying mark in the 100M event. She won her first senior world medal, a bronze, at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 (30 years ago), and has won 29 medals at major competitions, including 14 at the World Championships (more than any other athlete).
Notably also, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she became the oldest-ever athletics medallist when she anchored the Jamaican women’s 4x100m relay team to second place.
Things weren’t so pleasant in the quiet rural district of Pleasant Hill in Bog Walk, St. Catherine last night, as gunmen invaded a house in the community and shot five persons. Four of them died, while the fifth person has reportedly been hospitalised in a critical condition.
The dead have been identified as 40-year-old Raymond Williams, Audrey Thomas, 41, Kaneil Parks, 19, and Shereka Clarke, 21 (who was visiting the family). While the police are yet to establish a motive for the quadruple killing, unconfirmed sources indicate that it could have been as a result of a commununity conflict involving money.
Nerval Walker appeared before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court earlier today, where he was remanded in custody for having unlawful possession of J$200,000 and some foreign currencies. He will remain in jail until July 29, when the matter will be heard once again.
According to the police, on July 7, 2010, a patrol spotted Walker acting suspiciously on Olympic Way in Kingston. He was stopped and searched, and J$201,800 as well as $1000 in Peruvian currency, $100 in Guyanese dollars and $100 in Banga currency were found in a brown bag that was in his possession. When questioned about the origin of the money, Walker allegedly claimed that he had won it at Cash Pot (popular local gambling game), however a check at the Cash pot location where Walker claimed to have won the money, revealed that there was no record of any winnings by him. He was thus arrested and charged for unlawful possession.
Norbert Graham, a 52 year old woodcutter of Shaw Castle in St. James, died in hospital yesterday, after he was reportedly hit by a tree branch at Mount Horeb in St. James. According to reports, Graham was on a farm cutting down a tree, when a branch fell and hit him on the head. He was taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where he later died from his injuries.
A recent search of prisoners at the all female Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Facility, reportedly turned up at least five instances where mobile phones were hidden inside the vaginas of prisoners. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the phones were wrapped in tissue and tied in plastic.
According to reports, prison officials introduced new hand held metal detectors that were able to alert them of the possibility of metal objects that were not visible to the naked eye. In these instances, the prisoners in question were taken to the Kingston Public Hospital, where doctors conducted searches and the mobile phones found hidden inside their vaginas.
A man who was wanted by the Christiana police for shooting intent, was reportedly chopped to death by a mob last night in Bronty District, Manchester. A policeman was also injured during the incident.
According to reports, at approximately 7:55 p.m. last night, the man – Omar Levy of Greendale District in Manchester – was spotted in Bronty District, but managed to elude the police. Residents of the area reportedly went in search of him, and when they found him, he was mobbed and chopped. Police officers attempted to rescue him, and one of the policemen was also injured.
Both the injured policeman and Levy were taken to the hospital, where Levy succumbed, and the policeman was treated and released.
