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.
Teachers, parents and students at the Reliance Basic School at Ferdie Neita Park in Portmore, St. Catherine are now lamenting the fact that criminals have broken into the school twice since Friday. According to reports, thieves broke into the school’s office on Friday and stole $37,000 that had been raised recently through fund-raising efforts … more details here
Thugs armed with machetes and knives reportedly invaded the Meadowbrook High School in St. Andrew yesterday, where they held up the students of an 11th grade class and robbed them of laptop computers (two in total), a computer game, flash drives and other items. The men reportedly entered the school compound, by climbing over a section of the school’s rear perimeter fence. A physical education teacher who attempted to hold on to one of the men as they made their escape, was reportedly stabbed in the abdomen. He is said to be in serious but stable condition at hospital.
Two of three female robbers were reportedly caught red-handed while plundering a pharmacy in Discovery Bay, St. Ann, on Friday (February 5). According to reports, the women were observed taking items off the pharmacy shelf and loading them into a bag, and then they attempted to leave the store without paying Two were held, and handed over to the police, while the third managed to escape in a waiting car.
According to reports, the three women are believed to be the perpetrators of numeroues robberies of bars, roadside jerk spots and shops across the island, using a Toyota motor car as their getaway vehicle. In one particular incident, which happened just outside Old Harbour in St. Catherine, it is alleged that the women ordered jerked pork, and when the barmaid went to fill the order, they robbed the till of an undetermined sum of money and also stole two quarts of Hennessy.
The police are still searching for the third robbery, while her two cronies will appear in the St. Ann’s Bay Criminal Court some time this week.
Two security guards – Alano Harris and Gladston Dixon – employed to Atlas Security Company, were arrested and charged jointly on Friday with larceny and conspiracy to steal J$13 million. The two were among six Atlas Security Guards who were detained last month in connection with the disappearance of the money from an armoured vehicle that was parked at Atlas Security Company’s base. The other four guards were released.
According to reports, Dixon (who is a courier), reportedly loaded eight bags of money onto the armoured vehicle. However, later that morning, one of the bags containing $13 million was missing. Dixon and Harris were arrested and charged after several days of intensive investigations.
They are currently being held in custody without bail, and are scheduled to appear in the Corporate Area Criminal Court tomorrow (January 12, 2010).
Mourners at a ‘nine night’ celebration at a yard in Whitehouse, St. Catherine, were in for the shock of their lives recently, when heavily armed gunmen held up the mourners and robbed them of all the food that was on hand.
The mourners were not harmed, and the gunmen simply left with the containers of curried goat, chicken and soup. The incident reportedly occured at around 2:30 a.m. in the morning.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that this has been one of many such brazen attacks by a group of gunmen who have been terrorising residents of Whitehouse and surrounding areas in St. Catherine. The police are said to be investigating.
A ritual that was supposed to guarantee financial increase, turned into a curse for a woman in Downtown Kingston last week Friday, as she was left $25,000 poorer as a result.
According to reports, the woman had just withdrawn $5,000 from an NCB ATM along Barry Street, when two men alighted from a vehicle and approached her. One of the men told her that he was a pastor, and that he wanted to bless her money. The woman, believed to be a regular churchgoer, reportedly gave the money to the man for him to pronounce a blessing that was supposed to guarantee financial increase.
Following a brief conversation that involved the second man, the woman reportedly returned to the ATM, and withdrew $20,000 more, which was turned over to the men for blessing.
The blessing soon became a curse however, as the woman watched helplessly as the men jumped into their vehicle and sped off with her money. The reportedly told her story at the nearby City Centre Police Station, but refused to make a formal report.
19 year old Fray Manning, of a Windsor Heights, St. Catherine address, pleaded guilty to a charge of simple larceny of $308,057 (a church’s collection/offering money), and sentenced yesterday to 1 year imprisonment at hard labour.
The court heard that on October 27 of this year, at about 9:30 a.m., a deacon took his church’s offering to the National Commercial Bank Portmore branch for lodgment. As he parked the car and was getting out, Manning reportedly ran up to him, grabbed the bag with the tithes (money) and ran off. The deacon called for help, and got assistance from persons who chased Manning and caught him. He was handed over to the police and arrested and charged.
61 year old Mandeville businessman Vincent Young, of a Beverly Green address in Manchester, was reportedly shot and killed by gunmen during a robbery at his supermarket in Mandeville yesterday.
According to police reports, Young and his wife were closing their business place last night at approximately 10:15 p.m. when four men, three armed with guns, approached and demanded money. He refused and the gunmen opened fire, hitting him several times. Young reportedly pulled his licensed revolver and fired at the men, but not before they took a bag with an undetermined sum of cash and cheques, as well as his wife’s handbag.
The robbers reportedly escaped in a white Toyota motor car. Young was taken to the Mandeville hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Two robbers, who had just robbed and stabbed a 49 year old man repeatedly along Red Hills Road yesterday, were then shot and killed by vigilante gunmen along Park Lane in the community.
According to police reports, the men robbed the man of $100 then stabbed him multiple times. They later met their demise when they ran into the Park Lane community, and explosions were heard, and both men were later found lying in pools of blood on the roadway. They are still unidentified.
The robbery victim was taken to hospital where he was admitted in serious condition.
