Jamaica 61 murders recorded this year. The last six murders were committed within a ten-hour span.

61 murders recorded in the 34 days already gone this year. The last six murders were committed within a ten-hour span.The latest murder victims have been identified as: Joel Victor, 22; Keon Murphy, 29; Denver Massiah, 30; Kevon Henry, 21; Jean Paul Pierre, 25, and Kenneth Chandler, 41. The rampant murders this year, come as a slap to the face of National Security Minister Martin Joseph, who during a recent post-Cabinet press conference, confidently assured the nation that TT would not see a repeat of 2008, the year when the all-time murder record of 545 was set.
If the current rate of almost two murders a day continues, the 2008 record would easily be surpassed. Pressed for comment on the murders, Joseph yesterday said: “I remain committed to ensuring that law enforcement will do all in its power to ensure the homicide figures will change in 2009”. The latest killing spree began at about 5 am yesterday when an acquaintance of Joel Victor went to a house in St Barb’s, Laventille and found a door to the back broken down. The man later discovered the bullet-riddled bodies of Victor and Keon Murphy on a bed. Up to late last night, investigators said they had no motive for this double-murder.
Also at 5 am, an off-duty police officer discovered the body of ‘PH’ driver Denver Massiah of Upper Dundonald Hill, Long Circular Road, St James, lying in a track near his (Massiah) home with gunshot wounds to the head and hand. Police are unsure if Massiah was killed where he was found or if he was killed elsewhere and dumped there. Two hours later, at 7 am, residents of St Augustine Terrace in Diego Martin found the body of Kevon Henry of Mercer Street, Diego Martin on the roadside. Henry who was shot multiple times, was well-known to the police. Three and a half hours later, at about 10.30 am, 24-year-old delivery truck driver Jean Paul Pierre who worked with LJ Williams Ltd, was shot and killed outside Chang Su Young Mini Mart at Tenth Avenue in Barataria, while off-loading goods from the delivery truck. Pierre of Morne Diablo Road in Penal, was accosted by a gunman who opened fire before running off. Police believe this was a case of a failed robbery. His relative, Shelly Ann Paul-Huddling said Pierre began working with LJ Williams two months ago and left home at about 4 am everyday in order to get to work on time. Paul-Huddling said the family was very traumatised by Pierre’s violent death and she wondered aloud what was this country coming to. “Life is no longer respected...the innocent ones are being killed,” she cried. In the final incident, at about 2.40 pm, Kenneth Chandler of Building II, Apartment 3-1, Laventille went to a mechanic shop at Reyes Road near Wharton Street in Laventille to have his vehicle repaired. Without warning, a man walked up to Chandler and shot him several times before running off.
The police were called in and officers took Chandler to Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was pronounced dead-on-arrival. Police sources said no autopsies were carried out at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday which means today will be an extremely busy day at Forensic with autopsies on at least eight murder victims (six from yesterday and two from over the weekend) being scheduled to be carried out.

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Fitzgerald Thomas, otherwise called ‘Chis’, of Doctor Bird Circle fatally shot after he engaged lawmen in a gun battle

36-year-old man was fatally shot after he engaged lawmen in a gun battle at Doctor Bird Circle, Aviary Housing Scheme, Old Harbour, St Catherine, yesterday. A semi-automatic pistol was seized in the incident.Dead is Fitzgerald Thomas, otherwise called ‘Chis’, of Doctor Bird Circle.Reports are that about 5:45 a.m., a team of police went to Thomas’ home to execute a warrant on him. On entering the premises, they were met with gunfire. The lawmen took evasive action and returned the fire. After the shooting subsided, the area was searched and Thomas found suffering from gunshot wounds. The weapon, a .45 Colt semi-automatic pistol, serial number 001722, with two .45 cartridges was taken from him. He was taken to the Spanish Town Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

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Dave Sterling, alias 'Machine Man', was shot dead when he allegedly pointed a firearm at the police

Gang leader, identified as Dave Sterling, alias 'Machine Man', was shot dead when he allegedly pointed a firearm at the police along Collie Smith Drive in Trench Town.
Among the 53 detained in the early morning raids by the police on Thursday was a man who the police said was earlier this week 'installed' as head of the Rat Bat gang, less than a week after the death of Machine Man.Police did not release the name of the reputed gang leader but said he was behind a series of criminal activities in Kingston, including murder, rape and extortion.The detainees, which include two women, were still being processed late yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday, the placard-bearing demonstrators accused the police of targeting their communities, even as a group of officers kept watch from the opposite side of the road."Them a terrorise we and we not warring with anybody," a lanky youngster said. "Machine Man take care of we; is him send whole heap of people pickney go school and them kill him, for what?" a bleached-out face woman asked.
"Them come lock up the people them from yesterday (Thursday) and is them same people keeping the peace in the place," said another woman, clad in a skimpy outfit as she stood at the entrance to Delacree Park.Sections of Spanish Town Road, Crescent and St Joseph Roads and Coral Lane, where the raids were carried out on
Thursday morning, have been tense since Machine Man's death last Friday.According to the police, the Rat Bat gang and men from other sections of the community located between Spanish Town and Waltham Park roads have been involved in an ongoing fight for turf.More than a dozen people have been murdered in the bloody rivalry since the start of the year, the police said.

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Owen 'Father Fowl' Clarke, reputed millionaire, cocaine-dealing leader of the British Link-up crew,

Owen 'Father Fowl' Clarke, reputed millionaire, cocaine-dealing leader of the British Link-up crew, who was described by the judge who sentenced him as one of the most dangerous men in England.There was Vivian Blake who ran the Shower Posse in the States during the 1980s and 1990s with a three-tiered organisational structure that the Mafia would have been proud of. In fact, the name 'don' (a Spanish term denoting rank and authority) draws on the idea of the mafia don. Early dons, were Claudius 'Claudie' Massop and Aston 'Bucky' Marshall who came to prominence in the 1970s as a result of the birth of political garrisons and signalled don-man influence on the Jamaican voters.Scott. was found in a big plastic bag buried near a tree What is common among most dons is that they all become extremely wealthy, by international standards, and have a major influence on our culture. Remember Donald "Zekes" Phipps? Recall the millions in cash he had lying around when the police raided his home? Recall the lockdown and barricading of downtown Kingston shops and the riots that started hours after his arrest by his supporters? Riots happened after the murder of the alleged head of the One Order Gang, Andrew 'Bun Man' Hope. Common, too, is the fact that most dons die violently.
"The dons, in short, have carved out small fiefdoms for themselves where they can pretty much operate with impunity. As such, they post a more serious challenge to the sovereignty of the Jamaican state than any foreign power ever did." (Charles Price, Urban Anthropology & Studies of Cultural Systems & World Economic Development, 2003).And while dons are known to provide social welfare for members of their community, they have, too, the reputation of being ruthless against those who act against them. Posse members are known for ritualised killings of members who "rip off" profits on drugs. The killing ritual usually involves the shooting of the individual five times; four to the chest and one to the head. Other ritual violent acts have included the use of laundry irons, chainsaws, hammer and nails and butcher's knives.Posse members have little regard for public safety or human life. As part of their code, extreme violence is directed at anyone they feel has disrespected them or is in their way.The last line alone makes me wonder about the vicious weekend killing of 11-year-old Aakim Scott, whose sodomised and dismembered body - arms legs and head separated from the torso, torso cut in two - was found in a big plastic bag buried near a tree. Five teenagers have been held in connection with the death after one of them produced a cellphone belonging to Aakim. I wonder if Aakim, in his childhood innocence, 'disrespected' any one of these teenaged boys.

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Men from the One Order gang are warring over extortion money

Men from the One Order gang are warring over extortion money ... It started about a week-and-a half ago when a group of men from the gang went and collected money from the sites without informing the other members," an officer from the St Catherine North Division explained. One high-ranking member of the gang denied the claims when contacted yesterday. "No man! Nuttin like that. Wi nuh have no internal thing a gwaan, di whole a wi good," he stated simply. However, the St. Catherine North police have linked at least two recent incidents to the squabble, the latest being the murder of a carpenter on Sunday. Vivian Douglas, 43, of Tredegar Park in the parish, was shot dead on Sunday in a section of that community. Police say about 8 a.m., Douglas was attacked by a group of gunmen as he walked through a dirt track on his way to a hardware store. The men opened fire, killing him on the spot. The police say Douglas was employed to one of the work sites from which the gang collected extortion fees. They believe he was murdered because he was close to the set of gang members who are said to have collected money from the site.

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Gang warfare as Rival gangs from Campview and Backroad in Kintyre fight for turf

Gang warfare as Rival gangs from Campview and Backroad in Kintyre fight for turf. Several persons watched the figures of the gunmen from the Gordon Town main road at a safe distance. Some were heard expressing their anguish as they feared they would not be able to enter their community.Three Jamaica Defence Force soldiers, who were en route to Gordon Town, were forced to make fresh plans and call for reinforcements. They, however, refused to respond to the Observer when asked if they intended to enter the area.It is understood that two persons were killed in the general area on Friday as a result of an ongoing gang war.

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Shawn Walker, also called Coach, was taken into custody after he was injured during a shootout with the police on Wednesday.

Shawn Walker, also called Coach, was taken into custody after he was injured during a shootout with the police on Wednesday. He is still in hospital under police guard.
Walker has since been charged for shooting with intent and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. The police say Walker is the leader of a gang, which operates out of a section of the Phase Two Housing Scheme in Seaview Gardens known as Marley. According to the police he was also a suspect in the murder of bus driver, Roy McFarlene about three weeks ago. The police say he will be facing an identification parade in connection with that case as soon as he is released from hospital. Further charges are also expected to be laid against Walker in the case of a murder, which is reportedly being probed by the Major Investigative Task Force.

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Thomas Manuel Paige Jr. murdered two women in their apartment, shot a man five times, shot another woman in the neck, then vanished.

Nineteen years ago, Thomas Manuel Paige Jr. murdered two women in their apartment, shot a man five times, shot another woman in the neck, then vanished.
For 18 years Paige stayed on the lam as Roanoke police followed numerous tips that led nowhere. But his life as a fugitive ended last year when federal marshals arrested him in Jamaica.Tuesday in Roanoke Circuit Court, the case ended for good. Paige pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Sylvia LaVern Baker, the capital murder of Debra Jean Salters, the malicious woundings of Wilfred Branch and Joyce Washington, and four counts of using a firearm in a felony in the May 27, 1989, shootings.Under the plea agreement, Paige, 41, received two life sentences plus an additional 58 years to serve.Stan Smith, supervisor of Roanoke's downtown police units, investigated the homicides in 1989 when he worked as a sergeant in the major crimes unit. "It feels really good," he said of Paige's capture and plea. "It's definitely the close of a chapter."There are only two possible punishments for a conviction on a capital murder charge: life in prison or the death penalty. By pleading guilty to that charge, Paige guaranteed he would serve a life sentence while avoiding the possibility of execution.Paige's voice quavered as he read from a handwritten note before Judge Clifford Weckstein sentenced him. "I would like to thank God for sparing my life."He said he wanted to offer his condolences to the families of the people he killed and wounded. "I am sorry for so much pain and sorrow I've caused."He blamed his actions that day on alcohol, marijuana and cocaine: "I wasn't aware of what took place till shortly after this crime."Members of Salters' family who attended the hearing did not seem appeased by Paige's apology, vocally criticizing his words as they left the courtroom.
Branch, too, was unsatisfied. "I don't know why the people who ask for mercy never give it," he said.Paige's defense attorneys, Chris Kowalczuk and Jeffrey Dorsey, asserted after the hearing that their client feels genuine remorse.
"The Thomas Paige that was in court today is a completely different person from the Thomas Paige of 20 years ago," Kowalczuk said.
After fleeing to Jamaica, Paige worked as a painter, lived in abject poverty under an assumed name and stayed out of trouble with the law, attorneys said.
But Paige's past caught up with him after someone wired money to him using his real name, Dorsey said.Roanoke police had received tips about Paige's supposed whereabouts for years, but none proved legitimate until authorities finally found him in May 2007 and confirmed his identity with fingerprints.Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell praised Roanoke police and U.S. Marshals for never giving up on the case.Assistant Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney John McNeil summarized the evidence prosecutors would have presented had the case gone to trial.
Branch and Washington had met at a club hours before the homicides. Because Washington was a friend of Baker's, they went to the apartment that Baker shared with Salters in the 2300 block of Staunton Avenue Northwest.They arrived to find Paige and two other men at the apartment. The entire group at the apartment had been using cocaine, McNeil said.Branch and Washington decided to leave, but Salters asked them to stay and instead asked Paige to leave, which apparently made him angry. He left briefly but returned with a handgun.He shot Baker first, then Salters. Both women died from wounds to the head.He then saw Branch and Washington retreat into a room and came after them. Branch tried to hold the door closed but Paige forced it open, shot Branch five times and shot Washington in the neck. Then he left.
Interviewed by Smith after his capture and extradition, Paige said he snapped, and he blamed the drugs and alcohol for his behavior.But Branch said that Paige's actions were too cold and calculating for that explanation to make sense.He still vividly remembers Paige's rampage, which he said came suddenly, with no apparent motivation.Alone with Washington in another room, he heard a noise like a gunshot but saw a truck laboring up a hill and thought its engine had backfired.
Then he looked out into the hallway and saw Paige shoot Salters in the head. The next thing he knew, Paige was gunning for him."I was there but I couldn't save or prevent this thing from happening. I couldn't change it," Branch said. "That has haunted me."Salters' daughter, Latisha, and son, Joshua, were both in the apartment when she was killed.Joshua Salters, who was 3 when his mother was killed, wasn't in the courtroom Tuesday. In March, he pleaded guilty to the September murder of Keith Leon Lewis and received a 23-year sentence

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Drug mule gangs

Jamaica Police are reporting that a significant dent has been made in the number of drug mule gangs smuggling narcotics out of the country.
Statistics from the Narcotics Division show that the number of drug mules arrested last year fell by 19 per cent when compared with the figure for 2006.
"Throughout 2007 we arrested a total of 5,496 persons for drugs, a significant reduction from the 6,793 persons arrested in 2006," Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police, Carlton Wilson disclosed.
The Acting ACP, who heads the Narcotics Division, pointed out that of the persons arrested, 5,257 were Jamaicans, with 4,927 being males and 330 females. Foreign males and females accounted for 174 and 65 arrests, respectively. Britons accounted for 119, Americans 51 and Canadians 22.
According to Wilson, of the 6,793 drug mules arrested in 2006, 6,039 were Jamaican males and 403 were females. Foreign males accounted for 257 and females 94.
Meanwhile, he explained that 171 persons were arrested at the Norman Manley International Airport and 220 persons at the Donald Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay last year. Of those arrests, 121 persons were destined for the United Kingdom, 17 for Canada, 21 for the USA and 17 for Curacao.
"Drug users are all across the social spectrum of the country and they use all sorts of means to smuggle the drugs. These include body packing, swallowing, storing in commercial goods, appliances and wood carvings, and in one instance last year, jacuzzis," Wilson pointed out.
He further noted that the drug mules ranged between the very young and the very old people, who are trying to deceive through their age. "[You find] people who are in wheelchairs, people over 70 years old, people who are blind, you find them packed with drugs going out of the country from time to time," he said.

Wilson appealed to drug mules and other persons involved in the drug trade to desist. "It is very damaging to your body and you need to look around and see what it has done to your colleagues and other people. You can pay visits to the rehabilitation centres, speak to people who are actually involved to get the stories first hand," he said.

"It is totally destructive. If you want to continue a normal, good life, desist from doing drugs," he warned.

The Narcotics Division has a mandate to report on the eradication, interdiction and demand reduction of drugs throughout the country.

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