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.
A policeman reportedly arrested his own mother recently, after she had stolen $52,000 from a betting shop in Bog Walk, St. Catherine, and had eluded police investigators for four days.
According to reports, the woman worked as a cashier and operator of the betting shop’s Supreme Venture’s machine. On January 19, her boss went to check the previous day’s sales, but found there was no cash where it should have been. The matter was reported to the police, who went in search of her; but she was not found. Her policeman son reportedly heard about the theft, caught up with her, arrested her, and handed her over to investigators.
In the Spanish Town Criminal Court last week, she pleaded guilty to the charge of ‘larceny as a servant’. The resident magistrate adjourned the matter until March 23, when she will be sentenced.
An early morning domestic dispute yesterday morning in Bog Walk, St. Catherine, has resulted in the death of a man and the critical injuring of his common-law wife.
37 year old Michael White is dead, while his thirty-year-old year old common-law wife, Marcia Barrett, (a teacher at Troja Primary and Junior High School in St. Catherine) is reportedly battling for life in hospital.
According to police reports, at approximately 5 a.m. yesterday morning, the couple was at home when an argument developed after Mr. White accused Miss Barrett of having an affair. It is alleged that Mr. White used a machete chop Miss Barrett all over her body before using the machete to stab himself.
Residents rushed the injured couple to the Linstead Hospital where Mr. White was pronounced dead, and Miss Barrett admitted in critical condition. She was later transferred to the Spanish Town Hospital.
