14 year old Delano Martin of Greenvale, Manchester, reportedly hung himself on Monday (July 12) after telling his mother that he would hang himself because she had refused to send him to summer school.
According to reports, Martin had told his mother that he wanted to go to summer school. She reportedly told him that he would be going the next day. This is said to have angered the child who reportedly told his mother that he would kill himself if she did not let him go. His mother later found him hanging from a rope on their verandah.
The family of 14 year old Norris Smith of a Flankers address in St. James is in mourning, after the boy reportedly hanged himself on an ackee tree, as a way of protesting his mother’s plan to leave Jamaica in order to work in the United States. The incident reportedly happened on Thursday (June 10), and his mother – Marcia Reid – has vowed to serve God and never to travel abroad again for economic reasons.
Reid, a single mother of five, reportedly said that she had been working as a security guard on the night shift for 11 years and had become tired of struggling to make ends meet. She reportedly told the three of her children who lived with her, that she was leaving for the US to work so life could be better for all of them and that she would be leaving them in the care of others. Norris was to be left with his father.
After hearing the plan, Norris reportedly threatened to kill himself, but Reid did not take the suicidal threats seriously.
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.
