An elderly man (David Joseph) who allegedly attacked a female co-worker with a broken glass after she rebuked him for his constant sexual advances, appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court on Friday, where he pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault occasioning bodily harm.
The court heard that on the day in question, the complainant was on her way home from work, when the accused stopped her and made sexual advances and demands. He had reportedly done this on several occasions before and the complainant had refused him, and this time she rebuked him strongly. The accused allegedly got angry and picked up a bottle, which he then broke, and pressed against the complainant’s neck, causing a small cut.
The matter was reported to the police, and Joseph was arrested and charged. He is scheduled to return to court on April 19.
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.
According to statistics released by the police just yesterday, 2009 was a record year for murders in Jamaica. According to the stats, 1680 murders were recorded last year, 62 more than the 1618 that were recorded in 2008, and 6 more than the previous record year – 2005.
According to the stats, approximately 52 per cent (859) of the murders committed in 2009 “were due to intra-gang and internal gang feuds, in addition to reprisal killings”.
October was the deadliest month last year, with 177 murders being recorded, and there was no month when there were fewer than 100 murders recorded.
1292 (77%) of the deaths were attributed to the gun, and knives/machetes were used to kill 227 (13.5%) persons last year. Seventeen murders were committed during drive-by shootings.
There were 74 double murders, nine triple murders and three instances where more than three people were killed in a single incident in 2009.
163 women and 81 children were among those killed in 2009.
Interestingly, 240 murders were committed in the St. James Police Division, the highest number of murders recorded in any of the total 19 divisions. St. James has now topped the volatile St. Andrew South Division and Clarendon as the division with the most murders.
Interestingly also, of the 1680 murders committed last year, detectives were only able to clear up a staggeringly low 21%.
Fifty year old Roger Prince, an Irish attorney who is holidaying in Jamaica and who rose in court recently to defend Archangelo Brooks (28 year old truck driver of Caymanas Gardens in St. Catherine who was charged with receiving stolen property) without having a Jamaican work permit not a certificate from the Legal Council authorising him to practice in Jamaica, was stoutly rejected by St. Catherine Resident Magistrate Simone Maddix, even after he insisted that he was qualified to practice anywhere in the Commonwealth.
The Resident Magistrate reprimanded the stubborn Irish attorney and literally had him kicked out of the Spanish Town Criminal Court. Forcibly demanding that he be heard by the magistrate, Prince was advised to take his comments to the Appeal Court where he will be heard. Prince reportedly said “as a member of the Commonwealth law bar, I am entitled to be heard anywhere“, but admitted also that he did not have a work permit, and apologised for not introducing himself to the court before speaking. He went as far as to cite a number of Commonwealth cases to support his bid to defend Brooks, but Resident Magistrate Maddiz was having none of it and rebutted the many legal citations, and firmly ruled that he should “argue somewhere else. Not here.”
She said, “you do not have a work permit to practice here, nor do you have a certificate from the Council to practice here, so I cannot here you.”
Brooks was denied bail and is remanded in custody until January 5, when the matter will come up again for mention.
Drivers of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) buses are infamous for the rough-shod manner in which they often drive these buses on the busy streets of Kingston, St. Andrew and St. Catherine. Not surprisingly, according to a report in today’s Jamaica Observer newspaper, JUTC buses have been involved in 852 vehicle accidents since January 1 of this year.
While many independent observers may say that many of these accidents are likely due to excessive speeding and poor driving, the relevant authorities have reportedly indicated that the size of the buses has been a key contributory factor towards the high accident rate.
FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 22 — On Tuesday, December 22, 2009, American Airlines Flight 331, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, overran the runway on landing at Kingston, Jamaica’s Norman Manley International Airport. The flight originated out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, operated into Miami International Airport, and then operated into Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport.
Preliminary reports indicate there are no serious injuries. The aircraft was carrying 148 passengers and a crew of six.
American Airlines is in direct contact with officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration and is cooperating fully with appropriate authorities. American Airlines will not speculate as to possible causes of the incident. At this point, no additional details can be confirmed.
Reports indicate that American Airlines Flight #331 from Miami (with 150 passengers aboard), crashed upon landing at the Norman Manley International Airport earlier this evening. Several persons have been confirmed injured, and there are no confirmed reports of fatalities. The plane reportedly broke in two after landing in heavy rain and with poor visibility.
Residents of some communities in Old Harbour, St. Catherine are reportedly being plagued for the last three months by a sniper of some sort, someone firing metal balls from what is believed to be an air gun or bebe gun at unsuspecting residents. The perpetrator reportedly drives through the communities usually between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. in a white Townace minivan, and the occupant fires at persons. At least a dozen residents have been attacked in this way so far, with welts and their swollen skin bearing the evidence.
According to the police, the residents have not made a formal report, thus no official investigation has been done into this matter.
Two women, who were entangled in a bloody brawl over a man that they both claimed to be their sweetheart, and who bit each other severely during the fight, were chased out of the Old Harbour Resident Magistrate’s court recently by St. Catherine Resident Magistrate, Simone Wolfe-Reece.
The two, Marlene Whittingham (41 year old, unemployed of Vere, Clarendon) and Claudette Bennett (46 year old secretary of Longville Park, Clarendon) ended up in court on charges of assault occasioning bodily harm to each other. Whittingham pleaded not guilty to biting Bennett on the hand, back and face and causing her bodily harm. However, after both women gave evidence, R.M. Wolfe-Reece admonished them for fighting over the man, and told them to get out of her sight. The women reportedly hung their heads and shame-facedly crept out of the court room.
Whittingham is to return to court on January 8, to face a charge of unlawfully wounding Bennett, during a fight over the same man in July, 2008.
Bernard Chambers of Blenheim, Hanover, reportedly died in hospital recently, after he was rushed there when he had a heart attack. The cause of the heart attack? It has been reportedly that the elderly man suffered the heart attack when a nine-year-old boy, who was part of a group of children playing hide-and-seek in an unfinished structure in the yard, jumped out at him and literally frightened him to death.
Doctors reportedly said that the elderly man going into shock/fright could have triggered the heart attack, and that it is in fact possible to be “frightened to death”. The official postmortem results showed that he died of a myocardial infarction (heart attack).
