Jamaica News

According to reports, a female teacher was allegedly attacked and injured by a parent in the principal’s office at a high school in St Mary recently. There had reportedly been trouble in the past between the two parties, and reports indicate that the incident occurred during an attempt at mediation.

A dispute between two brothers early yesterday morning in the Mavis Bank community of St. Andrew left one dead and the other hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

According to reports, at approximately 1 a.m. yesterday morning, the brothers had a quarrel, which escalated into a fight, and during the process, both were stabbed. They were rushed to the University Hospital of the West Indies, where one was pronounced dead, and the other hospitalized.

Click here to download PwC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) Jamaica’s preliminary analysis of the 2011/12 Budget Presentation which was made in Parliament on 28 April 2011 by the Honourable Audley Shaw, Minister of Finance and the Public Service. The theme of the analysis: From stablisation to growth? Jamaica: 2011/12 Budget.

With regard to PwC Jamaica’s preliminary analysis, it is important to note that some of the details in support of the various announcements are not yet available, and thus PwC Jamaica may still need to clarify and elaborate further on these measures in due course. Furthermore the contents of this analysis is based on information that was available at the time of writing, and whereas they have made all efforts to ensure its accuracy, it is possible that some of the details may be different from what is available at this time.

PwC Jamaica will be hosting a Post-Budget Briefing in conjunction with the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) on 13 May 2011. At this briefing, they will examine the 2011/12 Budget in further detail, and consider its implications for the Jamaican business community. If you have any questions in relation to any matter, please contact any member of the PwC Jamaica tax team by calling (876) 922-6230.

Download PwC Jamaica’s Analysis Of Jamaica’s 2011-12 Budget (PDF format)

A female student from a St. Catherine-based high school, was arrested on Monday (April 18), after she reportedly stabbed a district constable in the neck.

Reports indicate that at approximately 2 p.m. on Monday, the district constable was on duty at the school, when the teenager whom he had reprimanded earlier, crept up and stabbed him in the neck. He was taken to the Spanish Town Hospital where he was admitted in a serious condition. The juvenile was subsequently arrested and charged with wounding.

Ironically, the district constable is attached to the Safe Schools Programme, one that seeks to instil discipline in the students.

A policeman from the St. Catherine North Division, who is accused of assaulting and robbing a prostitute after their deal went sour, has been charged with robbery and assault.

According to reports, the policeman paid the prostitute (said to be an exotic dancer) for sex, but reportedly demanded that the money be returned after he had climaxed too quickly. She refused to return the money, and he allegedly became angry and searched her; when the money was not found he is said to have confiscated her cellphone and other personal belongings.

The woman made a report to the police who intervened, but the constable still refused to return her belongings. A file was compiled and sent to the director of public prosecutions, who ruled that the policeman be charged with robbery and assault. He is to appear in the Linstead Resident Magistrate’s Court later this week.

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.