Trial in Cuban light bulb case postponed

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The highly anticipated trial of former junior energy minister Kern Spencer and two co-accused on money laundering and corruption charges, was Monday postponed in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court.


SPENCER... disappointed that the trial was unable to get off the ground

The matter was postponed because of a change of lawyer on the part of defendant Rodney Chin and the unavailability of his lead attorney, Richard Small.

A Thursday mention date was set by which time a new trial date is expected to be agreed.

The third defendant in the matter is Coleen Wright, Kern's former executive assistant and supervisor at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.

Following Monday's adjournment, Spencer - who appeared in court with a group of supporters from his North East St Elizabeth constituency - told reporters that he was disappointed that the trial was unable to get off the ground.

All three defendants were arrested and charged in February as a result of a criminal probe into the handling of a gift of four million Cuban light bulbs, which reportedly cost taxpayers
well over $100 million to be distributed.

Spencer is facing a charge of corruption under Section 14(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and three counts of
money laundering.

Chin - the managing director of Universal Management Company and Caribbean Communications and Media Network Ltd - is facing one count of corruption under Section 14(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and one count of money laundering, while Wright faces one count of corruption under Section 14(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and four counts of money laundering.

If found guilty, all three could face up to five years behind bars.

Meanwhile, the defendants will not immediately face the more serious charge of conspiracy to defraud, which was separated from the current charges by the prosecution on July 31. The conspiracy to defraud charge will be revisited following the disposal of the current case against the three.

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Sandside shocked! - Boy's dismembered body found in bag

KARYL WALKER & CARL GILCHRIST, Observer staff reporters
Thursday, September 18, 2008


A dejected Marcia Ffolkes stares aimlessly into space as she reflects on the death of her only child, Aakim Scott, whose dismembered body was found in a bag in bushes in the district of Sandside in St Mary on Monday.

SANDSIDE, St Mary - Police in this rural community said yesterday that they believe a breakthrough was near in solving the gruesome murder of 11-year-old Aakim Scott, whose dismembered body was found stuffed in a plastic bag Tuesday, a day after he was reported missing.

According to a police source, one of the teenagers being questioned in connection with the youth's death was co-operating, inspite of the burning of his house by irate residents. Police said the burning could have destroyed potential evidence.

In the meantime, the Port Maria police were yesterday searching for a sixth suspect in relation to the gruesome murder of the 11-year-old. Five teenagers have already been arrested in connection with the child's death.


This elderly man expresses his disgust at the murder of 11-year-old Aakim Scott, while other residents gather at the entrance to the burnt out house where the boy had gone to visit two teenagers on Sunday. (Photos: Lionel Rookwood)

Yesterday, police were unable to confirm that the boy was sodomised before he was murdered.

"We don't have that information as yet," a cop who identified himself as Detective Sergeant Hutchinson at the Port Maria Criminal Investigation Bureau said.

Residents could not contain their anger as they gathered in groups to discuss the gruesome murder.

"Them dutty boy deh must face a wicked judgement. The woman have only one pickney and them come do him like that? Wha one little boy like dat coulda do anybody?" one woman asked.

Askim's dismembered body was found stuffed in a 100-pound polyethylene bag, with the limbs and head separated from the torso, which was cut in two.

Aakim, who lived with his mother Andrea Ffolkes, and 70-year-old grandfather, was last seen on Sunday evening when he went to a house in the district, where two of the teenage suspects live, to charge his cellular telephone. The child's relatives and residents of the district became suspicious when he did not return and launched a search which led them to the premises where the teenagers lived.

The relatives surrounded the house and demanded that the boys tell them the child's whereabouts, when one of the suspects handed over the child's mobile telephone. The residents then called the police who arrested the two teenagers and later held three others after homicide detectives interrogated the first two who were held.
The angry residents then torched the house where the teenagers lived.

Yesterday all that was left of the dwelling was a burnt out shell. All the furniture and appliances were burnt to a cinder.
Residents of Sandside were yesterday angry at what they described as the tardy response of the police, who they said only came to their assistance after they decided to block a main road which runs on the outskirts of their community.

"If we never decided fi block the road them wouldn't come here. We call dem long time and dem don't come nowhere," one female resident told the Observer.

They said that after the short protest the police came to the district and led seven search parties which combed the thick bushes behind the teenagers' house in a bid to find Aakim. After a few hours the boy's body was found in a bag at the root of a large tree. His head, arms and legs were chopped off.

An elderly man who claimed to have found the boy's body was yesterday beside himself with rage.

"What a set a animal dem. Them don't deserve to live; not even them mother because them womb deh curse," the man said with tears streaming down his face.

The incident has taken a heavy toll on Aakim's mother, Andrea Ffolkes, who was at a loss for words and sat staring into space with her hand at her jaw as her relatives and neighbours tried their best to console her.

"She isn't taking it too well," a neighbour said.
Aakim's untimely demise has also affected schoolmates and the staff at the Trinity Primary School.

"The whole school has been affected, the children, the teachers, all of us. If you had been here this morning you would have seen the children just running around and crying when they realised that Aakim was gone," Ava Turnbull, vice-principal of the primary school told the Observer.

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