Jamaica News

Classes were suspended at the Charlie Smith High School in Kingston yesterday, as the school’s administration protested against a rash of thefts, allegedly by students who have been plaguing the institution.

According to reports, students at the school stole one of the school’s laptops last Wednesday (April 6), and it is alleged that the school’s staff have also been victims of student criminal activity from time to time.

At about 2:45 a.m. this morning, a man armed with an AK-47 assault rifle reportedly entered Ward One at the Spanish Town Hospital, and accosted medical staff who were attending to patients. The staff (including doctors, nurses and other attendants) were reportedly roughed up and robbed of their cellular phones, money, and jewelery.

One doctor, a foreign national, was reportedly gun-butted several times, after he apparently did not respond to an instruction from the gunman. Reports indicate that the instruction was stated in Jamaican patois, but that the Doctor did not understand and comply quickly enough.

The St. Catherine police reportedly conducted an operation at a Spanish Town church (identified as the Lighthouse Assembly Worship Centre) yesterday, where they reportedly held three alleged members of the notorious Clansman Gang.

Reports indicate that approximately 17 police and soldiers ‘barged’ into the mid-morning service with high-powered weapons, searched the three men, and took them away. The police are reportedly alleging that the men are using the church as cover for their nefarious activities, meanwhile reports indicate that at least one of the three men who were detained, was preparing to be baptised in the very same church.

40-year-old fashion designer, Janet Douglas, of a Ziadie Gardens, St. Andrew address, is to be sentenced in the Home Circuit Court on March 11, after a jury deliberated for five hours yesterday, before finding her guilty of murdering her lover’s wife (32-year-old dressmaker Isolyn McGill, of Cornpiece district, near Hayes, Clarendon).

During the four-week trial, it was revealed that jealousy was the motive for the murder, because Douglas had a love affair with police Sergeant Glen McGill, Isolyn’s husband. Isolyn’s body, with 19 stab wounds, was found in bushes at Hillyfield district, off the Bustamante Highway in Clarendon on the night of November 24, 2000.

Douglas was first convicted of the murder in 2005 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. She was ordered to serve 25 years before parole. She appealed the conviction, and the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial because of a protracted evidence-related dialogue that took place between the trial judge and the prosecutor. The dialogue took place in the presence of the jury, which the appeal court said should not have happened.

There was no eyewitness to the murder, but the Prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence to prove its case. Evidence was given that Douglas went to the deceased’s home on November 24, 2000, and gave her money to purchase certain items in May Pen, Clarendon. Shortly after McGill left, Douglas drove off in a motorcar, heading in the same direction that McGill had gone. Douglas returned to the deceased’s house later in the evening. When the deceased did not return home, a search was launched, and her body was found. The items which the deceased had purchased at a supermarket were found in Douglas’ car, while the receipt for the items was found in the deceased’s pocket.

Douglas denied committing the murder.

Two British nationals – 30 year old Heather Stoute and 59 year old Ruby Blackwood – who were found guilty of seeking to illegally export 119 pounds of ganja, were given lengthy jail terms when they appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Stoute and Blackwood, both of London, were arrested at the Norman Manley International Airport on January 25, after detectives from the Transnational Crimes and Narcotics Division searched their luggage as they were about to board a Virgin Atlantic flight for London. 85 pounds of compressed ganja was found in Stoute’s two suitcases, while 34 pounds were removed from Blackwood’s suitcase.

They were each sentenced to a mandatory two-year jail term, and in addition to this, Stoute was also sentenced to six months or J$15,000 (US$177) for possession of ganja; six months or J$200,000 (US$2, 362) for dealing in ganja; and J$544,072 (US$6,427) or two years for taking steps to export the drug. Blackwood was also sentenced to six months or $115,000 (US$1,358) for dealing in ganja; and two years or $213,000 (US$2,516) for taking steps to export the drug. She, too, was given six months or $15,000 (US$177) for possession of ganja.

The sentences are to run consecutively.

Four male students of the Mannings High School in Westmoreland, were reportedly stabbed during a brawl at the school yesterday morning. Two of the students are said to be in hospital in serious condition, with one having to undergo emergency surgery for punctured lungs.

According to reports, at approximately 8:30 a.m. yesterday, a boy was standing with his sister, when she was approached by a group of male students, one of whom had a knife. The boy with the knife reportedly began wielding the weapon as he neared the siblings, and the brother was allegedly trying to protect his sister when the knife fell from the boy’s hand. The brother, who is a Grade 10 student, reportedly grabbed the knife and began wielding it wildly, injuring four of the boys in the process.

The brother has since been taken into custody, and school was closed for the rest of the day. The school’s principal and staff held an emergency meeting after the incident, and Officers from the Education Ministry are expected to visit the institution today.

18 year old Markland Green appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where he pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm. Green was accused of slapping a schoolgirl in the face, and was sentenced to 200 hours of community service (to be carried out at the Half-Way Tree Courthouse). He was also ordered to apologise aloud to the complainant in court.

The court heard that on the day of the incident, the complainant was walking home along Beckford Street in Downtown Kingston, when Green approached her and reportedly called her by the name of her school. The complainant then reportedly told Green that he should not speak to her, a response which angered him. Green then became boisterous, and used indecent language at the complainant, prompting her to do the same. Green the reportedly used his hands to hit the complainant on both sides of her face several times then walked away.

He was later arrested and charged. The complainant, who was accompanied in court yesterday by her mother, later told the court that she had accepted the apology and would not be claiming any compensation.

Stephanie Ebanks, a bartender, of Old Harbour Glades in St. Catherine, appeared before the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate’s Court earlier today, where she faced charges of using indecent language, resisting arrest and assault in connection with an incident that occurred between herself and another woman.

During court proceedings today, investigators indicated that they will also be looking to charge her for allegedly defecating and plastering it on the wall of the Old Harbour Police Station where she was being held. The court was told that she defecated in the police station’s holding area at the front of the building, and then used her slippers to plaster the wall with faeces. In her defence however, her lawyer stated that Ebanks kept asking the police to allow her to use the bathroom in order to perform normal bodily functions, but she was not allowed to do so, hence she messed herself up.

She is to return to court on February 11.

A man who the police say was accused of raping little boys in the Tivoli Gardens community of West Kingston, was found with a single gunshot wound to the head on Bustamante Highway at about 11:40 pm last night. The man was identified as 42 year old Winston Pennington, also called Black John.

According to the police, Pennington was shot at point-blank range. A spent shell and a 9mm round were reportedly found beside his body. Up to this afternoon, the police had no suspects and no leads in the murder, which is the first in the Tivoli Gardens area since its alleged Area Leader, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, was extradited last year.

Dwayne Blincholm appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court recently, where he pleaded guilty to praedial larceny. Blincholm had reportedly stolen 13 dozen ackees from the Mona campus of the University of West Indies, and was sentenced to 30 days in prison for the offence.

The court heard that Blincholm was arrested and charged after campus security guards held him on the university property, searched his bag, and found the stolen ackees. Despite him telling the court that he had not stolen the ackees intentionally (he claimed he was passing, saw them, and picked them), Senior Magistrate Judith Pusey was not moved, stating “… praedial larceny is costing the country a lot because the little that you stole plus the little that another person steals adds up so, you’re going to spend 30 days in prison for what you did.“