Jamaica News

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.

The police in Highgate, St. Mary are seeking the public’s assistance in locating a man who has been linked to the stabbing death of 43 year old Anthony Dennis (aka “Tools”), a jeweler of Lewistore in Highgate. The man being sought is 45-year-old Herbert Clarke (also called “Panty Man”), a vendor of Tremorsworth in Highgate, St. Mary.

Reports indicate that Dennis was stabbed and killed during a dispute with another man who reportedly owed him money.

54 year-old Neville Gardener of New Castle, Westmoreland, died last night, after he was reportedly stabbed by his son following an argument with his common-law wife. According to reports, Gardener and his common-law-wife had been having ongoing disputes and at about 10 p.m., they started fighting.

One of Gardener’s sons reportedly intervened, and used a knife to stab his father. Gardener was taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where he later died. The son has since been taken into custody by the Bethel Town Police who are investigating.

82-year-old Bishop Wilbert Peynado, of the Montego Bay Church of Jesus Christ, was reportedly shot and killed along the busy Barnett Street in Montego Bay this morning. The incident reportedly occured just across the street from the Barnett Street police station.

Preliminary reports indicate that the elderly clergyman was attacked and shot at about 9:40 a.m. as he walked along Barnett Street. He was rushed to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Montego bay Criminal Investigation Bureau have launched an investigation into the matter.

A woman who reportedly went to a police station to make a report, but was reportedly turned away because she was not “properly dressed”, was reportedly stabbed to death just minutes after she left the police station last night.

According to reports, 31 year old Melonie Johnson went to the Caymanas Station in Gregory Park at approximately 9:45 last night to report a dispute that she had with another woman in the community. Johnson was reportedly turned away from the police station by a policeman who was on duty, who reportedly told her to get “properly dressed” before entering the station. Minutes after leaving the police station, she was reportedly confronted by the woman with whom she had the dispute, and during a fight she was stabbed to death.

16 year old Shakeal Nelson, a student of the St. Andrew College, was reportedly attacked and stabbed to death by a group of students in Half-Way-Tree yesterday.

According to reports, Nelson, who is from the Golden Spring area of rural St. Andrew, was attacked as he stood close to the Half-Way-Tree Transportation Centre. According to one eyewitness, loud shouts were heard, then he saw the bleeding boy on the ground and a group of other students running away from the scene.

The police are investigating the circumstances under which the body of a man (30-year-old Oneil Douglas of a Manache Lane address in Kingston 5) was discovered yesterday evening in an industrial oven (that was turned on) at a bakery along Collins Green Avenue in St. Andrew. Douglas was also reportedly an employee of the bakery where his body was found.

According to reports, Douglas left home for work on Monday (October 25), but his family members became concerned when he did not return home that evening, and could not be reached on his cellular phone. The bakery was closed for the day yesterday, but during a search of the premises by relatives, Douglas’ remains were discovered at approximately 5 p.m. inside the lit oven. Blood stains and a large stone with spots of blood were seen inside the bakery. It has been theorized that Douglas was hit over the head with the stone, and then thrown into the oven.

The police have indicated that a gang feud between men from sections of Olympic Gardens known as ‘Back Road’ and Tower Avenue was the reason behind yesterday’s murder of eight year old Jodian Bignal at Mahagony Road in Olympic Gardens. Reports indicate that Bignal, a student of the Seaward Primary and Junior High School, was at home at approximately 2:40 a.m., when four gunmen broke open a window to the house and opened fire hitting her. She was taken to hospital, but died while undergoing treatment.

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.

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.