Accused child killer remanded

CLARK'S TOWN, Trelawny — Marvia Patterson, the woman charged with murder for the beheading of four-year-old Natasha Brown last week, was remanded into custody when she appeared in the Clark's Town Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Accused child Murderer Marvia Patterson being escorted by Police officers from the Clarks Town RM Court

Patterson, 42, a labourer of Duanvale in the parish, is booked to reappear in court on August 2.

The matter was scheduled for the Falmouth Resident Magistrate's Court but was moved to Clark's Town at the "last minute", after the police reportedly received information that persons were planning to attack the accused, the Jamaica Observer learned.

But the transfer of the case to the sugar cane belt of Clark's Town did not prevent scores of persons from gathering in the precincts of the courthouse, which adjoins the Clark's Town Police Station. There, the boisterous crowd, under the watchful eyes of a large contingent of lawmen, hurled abuses and threats at Patterson.

"Let her out mek wi beat her; she is wicked; she is eating taxpayers' money," said an irate member of the crowd, when Patterson arrived in an unmarked grey Toyota Carolla motor car in the courtyard, under tight security.

Clad in an orange dress, white cap, black slippers and sporting a striped sweater, Patterson remained calm in court, and showed no remorse when the allegations against her were read.

In fact, her pleasant demeanour was in stark contrast to the scores of irate persons who had waited patiently outside the courthouse for her arrival.

The court was told that on the morning of May 28 about 8:30, Natasha's mother, Mervilyn Graham, accompanied her daughter a little distance from the Duanvale Basic School -- which she attended -- and returned home, hoping that the child would make it on her own to school.

But Natasha did not make it to school that morning, the court was told.

It is alleged that Patterson, who was later seen talking to the child and holding her hands, took her to bushes in Farkland and severed her head from the body.

It is further alleged that she then placed the head in a black scandal bag which she took to Faith Avenue in the farming community of Duanvale, a few metres from where she resides, and threw it into a sinkhole.

Hours later that day, Patterson was held by the police in the Falkland area and taken into custody.

The following morning Natasha's head and body were retrieved from the sinkhole.

And last Saturday, the chopper believed to be the murder weapon was also retrieved from the sinkhole.

The court was also told that Patterson reportedly told investigators that Graham was destroying the relationship she had with Natasha's father, adding that the father was not supporting the child she had borne for him.

The August 2 date was set by Resident Magistrate Icolyn Reid, after it was revealed that the case file on the matter was incomplete.

Patterson is being represented by attorney Winston Douglas.

Meanwhile, Margaret Riley Morrison, who told reporters that she is a relative of Graham, said family members have been trying their best to cope with the brutal murder of Natasha.

"The family has been getting counselling and prayers from a number of church members and friends, so although it is rough we are trying our best to cope," said Riley Morrrison.

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Three men shot dead in Seaview Gardens

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Three men are reported dead in a shooting incident at Seaview Gardens in Kingston at about 8:30 pm Friday.

Information surrounding the shooting is unconfirmed at this time however early reports are that the killings resulted from a gang-related feud in the community.

More information later.

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US$1 = J$100! - J$ plunges to lowest value ever

The Sliding Jamaican dollar - record $100.08 to 1USD

THE Jamaican dollar plunged to its lowest value ever yesterday, trading at an average $100.08 to its US counterpart, a development that is in keeping with a recommendation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Last month, the IMF, in its Country Report on Jamaica, said that despite a recent depreciation in the value of the Jamaican dollar, the currency was overvalued and further depreciation was needed.

"The recent nominal exchange rate depreciation has been useful, by reversing part of the overvaluation of the real exchange rate that has emerged in recent years, thus supporting price competitiveness," the IMF said.

"Looking forward, and given the need to address the remaining overvaluation, structural reforms are expected to help in restoring external competitiveness, alongside exchange rate flexibility," the fund added.

Early last month Jamaica signed off on a funding arrangement with the IMF that will see the island receiving near US$2 billion in loans over the next four years from the IMF, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank under an Extended Fund Facility.

In its country report, the IMF said that there may still be a need, at times, for interventions in the foreign exchange market aimed at avoiding disorderly short-run movements. "In this context, the programme contains clear reserve targets to safeguard the adequacy of reserve coverage — a key policy priority under the programme," the Fund said.

Since the end of April this year, the Jamaica dollar had been experiencing slight fluctuations in value in the region of J$99 to US$1. It traded at an average J$99.93 to US$1 on Thursday before losing 15 cents yesterday to cross the symbolic $100 threshold.

Yesterday, the Canadian dollar gained 81 cents to trade at J$97.90, while the British pound traded at J$155.44, up 56 cents.

Jamaica's decision to decimalise its currency took effect on September 8, 1969 and saw new coins and banknotes replacing the pound, which was circulated for decades as a mixture of British currency and local issues and was always equal to the British pound.

At the time of its introduction, the Jamaican dollar was stronger than the US dollar, valued at J$0.77 to US$1.

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Cabinet approves new policy for pregnant schoolgirls

CABINET has signed off on a new policy that advocates for the mandatory re-integration of all school-aged mothers into the formal school system.

The policy takes effect this September.

Education Minister Ronald Thwaites last month tabled a Ministry Paper in the Lower House, indicating that the policy paper had been submitted to the Cabinet for approval. At the time, he said the measure would help Jamaica fulfil international policy and development aims contained in the Millennium Development Goals, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

The issue was raised in Parliament in February by Opposition Senator Kamina Johnson Smith when she sought to have the Education Act amended to change the regulations requiring automatic expulsion of pregnant girls from the public school system.

Senator Sandrea Falconer, the minister in charge of information, told yesterday's Jamaica House press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kingston that the approved policy will clear up existing misconceptions.

"The education regulations provide that a girl who becomes pregnant shall leave the formal school system during the period of her pregnancy. The minister of education has the discretion to facilitate the re-entry of such girls into educational institutions," said Falconer.

However, she said the converse existed.

"No policy framework existed for the exercise of this discretion. Instead, at times, schools have misinterpreted the provision and treated the girls as absent from the school permanently. The schools will now be advised and places temporarily vacated by a student during her pregnancy should be retained for the student's return to school following the completion of an approved transitional programme," Falconer told reporters.

She added that the policy would provide the same flexibility to students wishing to attend a different school after the birth of their child.

In the meantime, a preventative message, designed to reduce teenage births, will be a critical component of the policy while prevention messages will be integrated into the school-based and national adolescent sexual and reproductive health and family programmes which target potential teenaged fathers.

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Retired DCP Jevene Bent

Retired Deputy Commissioner of Police Jevene Bent is tipped to assume the position of commissioner of corrections.

Gleaner sources revealed yesterday that Bent, who retired last month as the first female deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), is set to take up the position currently held by Lieutenant Colonel Sean Prendergast.

Prendergast is to demit office at the end of the month to go on pre-retirement leave from the Jamaica Defence Force after serving a three-year stint at the Department of Corrections.
Prendergast succeeded June Spence-Jarrett in the wake of the damning findings of a commission of enquiry into the Armadale tragedy three years ago.

When contacted by The Gleaner about the appointment, Bent said: "I can't respond to that."
Last night, National Security Minister Peter Bunting noted that such appointments are made by the Public Service Commission and not the political directorate.

If confirmed,Bent's appointment would coincide with heightened public interest in the treatment of youths under state care in the aftermath of the suicide of a ward of the state as well as mounting concerns over their placement and treatment by members of the correctional services who have direct responsibility for their care.

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Downtown Kingston vendors protest

ANGRY vendors in downtown Kingston yesterday staged a demonstration on Orange Street to protest against what they described as the unfair treatment being meted out to them by the police.

The vendors claimed they have become targets by the police who have intensified operations to remove vendors from the sidewalks of the commercial district.

"The police them a treat us unfairly; they take away our carts and goods and we don't get them back [and] at times when our goods are returned they are damaged or the quantity is less," one vendor told the Jamaica Observer.

Some of the vendors shouted at the police while bearing placards, some of which read: 'Where is the prime minister'; 'School fees and bills need to be paid'.

One vendor, Cornelia McDonald, who has been selling in downtown Kingston for more than a decade, described her experience with police officers as tormenting and abusive.

"Them a seize our goods, dash them away and we are being locked up, fined and required to pay up to $11,000 for their return sometimes," McDonald said.

"Me get beaten from police four weeks ago. Them beat me up and pepper spray me, then took me to the police station. After I was released my handbag with my money, keys and documents were missing and none of them could give an account. Even though this happens we are still being charged", McDonald further stated.

She said that while she understands the effort the police were making to remove vendors from the streets, the market to which they have been being directed does not have enough space.

"It's graduation time now and they are seizing our goods, how we children a go manage, they are stopping our job and a our 'pickney' a go feel it," said McDonald.

One female vendor claimed that she was told to become a prostitute to earn money when she asked the police about an alternative job when her goods were seized. "They said you affi go work a New Kingston (to sell body) if you can't make a profit anyway else," she said.

Nehemiah Henry, a vendor for over three decades, vowed to keep up the protes

t until better provisions have been made for he and his colleagues, saying vending was his only source of income.

"I will protest for the entire week if I have to, there is no other way of getting money. I don't rob or kill people, this is my honest bread and now I'm being hindered from earning it. There are no systems or provisions in place for us to go to the market...," said Henry.

The angry vendors said that in the current economic situation it was difficult to progress and that the clampdown by the police could lead to violence, adding that their cry for a better system has fallen on deaf ears. One vendor said the city's mayor has been silent on the matter and vowed that their frustration would be reflected on the ballot paper in the next election as they have lost hope.

"We will not vote again, especially for the mayor, as she has done nothing for our support," said one angry vendor.

The Kingston and St Andrew Corporation is now controlled by the People's National Party and led by Mayor Angela Brown Burke.

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Hoodlums rob Usain Bolt's dad

FALMOUTH, Trelawny -- Wellesly Bolt, the father of sprinting legend Usain Bolt was reportedly robbed in Falmouth this morning of cash amount to over $400,OOO.

According to the elder Bolt, the money was stolen from his Toyota pick-up truck which was parked in the vicinity of the Falmouth Municipal Market at about 10:00am.

He told the Jamaica Observer that the money was stolen minutes after he left a commercial bank.

" Someone apparently was trailing me," he said, adding that the robber gained entry to the vehicle by breaking the window on the driver's side of the vehicle.

The matter has been reported to the Falmouth Police.

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Mysterious fire razes St Elizabeth 'haunted house'

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — After weeks of mysterious burnings and reports of people being hit with stones thrown by "invisible" hands, a pur-ported "haunted house" was destroyed by fire at Rose Hall district, in south east St Elizabeth yesterday.

inside d burnt dwell

Haunted house razed by fire

 

Reports pieced together from residents and firemen at the Junction Fire Station said the fire started shortly before midday and quickly engulfed the five-apartment building. Distraught householders said they lost "everything". The fire department esti-mated the total loss at around $15 million. Family members, who yesterday steadfastly insisted that their names be kept out of news reports, confirmed that the house was not insured. The Junction police confirmed late yesterday that they were investigating the incident.

A 42-year-old daughter of the householders said any material assistance would be welcomed "because the house burn down and we lose everything". Fire personnel said that on their arrival the house was already "engulfed". They were able to save an old building, almost adjoining, described by relatives and neighbours as an "old outside kitchen". Firemen described the cause of the fire as "unknown". But family members and neighbours were in no doubt that it was merely a continuation of the mysterious happenings occurring sporadically since April 20. They claim several people have been hit with stones and small fires had, on occasion, destroyed furniture, including mattresses and settee chairs. They insist that the cause is "not natural" and is "duppy business". The daughter told the Jamaica Observer that in the latest incident, family members found themselves being hit by stones on occasions Monday night to early Tuesday morning. It was as if the stones were "coming out of the ceiling", she said. She showed this reporter bruises on her neck and arms as evidence of being hit. She claimed they left the house yesterday, with some family members hoping to go to the doctor only to hear that the house was on fire. "Pure fire mi see a bun ... the whole of the top of the house pure fire," a neighbour, who claimed to have been early on the scene, said.

 When the Observer team arrived in mid-afternoon, only the blackened walls of the burnt-out house remained with scores of people from surrounding communities visiting to see for themselves. Twisted metal in what was said to be the kitchen was identified by neighbours as the remains of appliances, including fridge and stove. Saddest of all, perhaps, were the remains of school books burnt to cinder.

The daughter who spoke to the Observer, angrily rejected allegations that family members had been involved in demonism and spiritualism of any form. "We not in no de Laurence business, we don't deal inna obeah, we don't know anything bout dem thing deh... I have to work too hard to tek my money give obeah man," she said. "If we did owe de Laurence money, wi nuh woulda pay it back long time from the first stone dem start throw? But wi don't know who to go to because wi don't owe nobody and wi don't do nobody nuttin," she said. Her constant puzzled refrain was "we want to know what cause this?" She asked this reporter: "In all your experience, you have any idea what could cause this?" She got no answers. She confirmed that her 70-year-old mother had been taken to the doctor. "She suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, and all this is too much," she said.

The daughter said that after initially dismissing reports that "duppies" (ghosts) were involved, she changed her opinion weeks ago, when she saw a window on fire with no obvious source. "Mi see it fi myself," she said.

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Soldier dies in road accident

KIMMO MATTHEWS, Observer staff reporter
Thursday, October 09, 2008



The mangled wreck of a Jamaica Defence Force jeep beside a Jamaica Urban Transit Company bus with which it collided along Washington Boulevard in St Andrew, yesterday. One soldier died and two others were injured in the accident. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)

A Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier yesterday died and two others injured when the jeep in which they were travelling slammed into the side of a Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus along Washington Boulevard, St Andrew, in the vicinity of Six Miles.

Last night the JDF declined to give the names and ranks of the dead soldier and his injured colleagues pending notification of their families. However, Observer sources said the deceased was a captain.

According to the police, the vehicle was heading in an easterly direction on the boulevard when it apparently got out of control, "scaled the embankment and collided" with a #21 JUTC bus that was travelling on the opposite side of the road.

Last night, the JUTC said no one on the bus was injured but the accident left its driver "in shock".

Yesterday, a pool of blood near the mangled remains of the jeep told a sad tale. There were long skid marks from where the vehicle first got out of control to where it made angry contact with the bus.

As soldiers tried to help police on the scene to remove the wrecked jeep, it was obvious that the death of their colleague had hit home.

One soldier, who declined to give his name, said that it appeared the wet road surface from heavy afternoon showers had contributed to thedeadly accident.

The accident, which occurred minutes before 4:00 pm, severely slowed traffic on the normally busy boulevard. Police had to warn several motorists who tried to stop at the scene.

Last night, communication officer at the JDF, Major Charlene Steer, said the army was deeply saddened by the news. She also praised a medical doctor who she said had stopped to help the injured soldiers.

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Shaw in health scare - Finance minister falls ill during meeting with PM, cabinet colleagues

BALFORD HENRY, Observer writer
Thursday, October 09, 2008



SHAW... fell ill and had to be admitted to the University Hospital of the West Indies

Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw gave loved ones and close associates a scare yesterday when he fell ill suddenly and had to be admitted to the University Hospital of the West Indies, Mona.

However, members of the Cabinet - who were with him up to last night - confirmed that he was conscious, was in no pain or discomfort and were optimistic that he would be back on the job soon.

Shaw reportedly complained of feeling ill during a meeting of Cabinet colleagues with Prime Minister Bruce Golding. Minister without portfolio at the finance ministry, Senator Dwight Nelson, said that Shaw had no history of ailment and that yesterday's incident came as a surprise.

Minister of Industry, Investments and Commerce Karl Samuda said that it was "out of an abundance of caution" that Shaw was referred to the Tony Thwaites Wing of the University Hospital.

"We were having a discussion when he fell ill. Dr Ken Baugh and Dr Horace Chang (two medical doctors) were both there and we felt that out of an abundance of caution, we should take him to the University Hospital where he could be properly observed," Samuda said last night.

Asked whether he felt that the illness was serious, Samuda said that he did not want to guess what would result from the tests being carried out by the medical team. He confirmed that Shaw was conscious throughout and was "not in any pain or discomfort".

Shaw's colleague minister, Senator Don Wehby felt that Shaw might still be able to attend this weekend's scheduled annual meeting of the board of governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Washington DC.

The finance minister was scheduled to leave today for that meeting which started October 6 and ends on Monday.

Senator Wehby will be leaving for the meeting this afternoon, accompanied by other officials including newly appointed Financial Secretary Sharon Crooks, who only took office yesterday.

"We will be engaging in meetings with the multilaterals, and we will also use the opportunity to update the rating agencies and our lead bankers," Senator Wehby said.

He said that the team was hopeful that Shaw would be able to join them over the weekend for crucial discussions with multilateral agencies, which also include the Inter-American Development Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank

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'Waite' is over - Arnett coach quits after string of poor DPL results

By Howard Walker Observer staff reporter
Tuesday, October 07, 2008


Jerome Waite became the first coaching casualty of the Digicel Premier League season when he was replaced by Fabian Davis as head coach at Arnett Gardens yesterday.

Waite, who was the saviour last season when he helped Arnett avoid relegation, was parting company with the club for a second time.

Waite coached the team to its most successful stint in recent years with back-to-back titles in the 2000-01, 2001-02 seasons and also coached the team when it lost the 2002-03 final, its third championship game in a row to Portmore United in extra-time.

Patrick Roberts, president of the club, told the Observer sounded diplomatic, when he said Waite wanted to "step back".

"As you know in every football club when a team is not doing good the first thing you look at is the coach... at the end of the day, four (games) straight without a point is unacceptable. We met and amicably, he (Waite) realised that the team is not doing good and (he) asked to step back," said Roberts.

"What we want is results and we are not getting results and we looked at everything and if he feels that he has to step back, then we respect that from Jerome Waite," he added.

Arnett Gardens have lost all their four games so far this season, including 0-1 losses to Boys' Town, Portmore United and Waterhouse.

On Sunday, they went down to 1-2 to Sporting Central Academy to be rooted at the bottom of the league without a point.

Efforts to contact Waite last night proved futile as calls went straight to his cellular phone's voicemail.

"In the meantime we appointed Fabian Davis as the interim coach. He has the respect and will have full control of the team," said Roberts.

Davis, 34, who represented Jamaica 72 times and scored six goals, will be the player/coach and said he is ready for the mammoth challenge.

"As you know the team has been doing badly so we are trying our best to do what is best for the club. It is for me to instil my experience of years of playing and have these players motivated to be on the same page on game day.

"I have a better understanding of how the players think, I hope I can get into their heads and have them think at a higher level," Davis told the Observer after meeting with his senior players before training started yesterday.

Davis, who is no stranger to success, was voted MVP after leading Arnett Gardens to the premier league title and again with Tivoli Gardens in their championship year.

Davis' first game in charge will be a fiery one against archrivals Tivoli Gardens on October 12.

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723 kids missing - Over 1,000 people unaccounted-for since January

KARYL WALKER, Crime/Court co-ordinator
Monday, October 06, 2008



Jullene Edwards, 15, missing since September 9. (Photo: CCN)

More than 700 children have been reported missing since the start of the year, according to figures released by the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) last week. The figure represents 65 per cent of the 1,112 persons listed as missing between January 1 and September 23 this year.

Two of the 723 children reported missing have been found dead.

They are 11-year-old Aamir Scott, whose dissected remains were found in bushes at Sandside district in St Mary where he lived, and 15-year-old Baggio Easy, whose decomposing remains were found in water on the edge of the Riverton City landfill in early September this year.

An on-the-spot post-mortem revealed that Easy drowned, while a teenager has been charged with the gruesome murder of Aamir Scott after police said he confessed to killing the child.

Up to yesterday, police were still awaiting the results of a DNA test to determine the identity of a child's body found in Red Hills, St Andrew last week.

Relatives of 11-year-old Ananda Dean believe that it was her body that was found, arguing that a shoe and school tunic found at the scene belonged to the missing child.

Police reported that of the 1,112 persons who were listed as missing, 353 have been found or returned home.

However, the police were not able to say how many of the missing children have been found.

The police say the majority of youngsters who go missing are girls who often run away from home only to be found holed up with a male partner or who return home voluntarily.

"A lot of times the persons who reported the children missing are so overjoyed that they sometimes forget to report that the child was found," Deputy Superintendent Sonia James of the CCN told the Observer.

Since the start of the year, 58 children have been murdered.
Some of the persons reported missing are:

. Jullene Edwards, 15 - Left home in Harbour View to visit her mother in Gordon Town, St Andrew on September 23 and has not been seen or heard from since:

. Chivaughn Haughton, 14, of Olympic Gardens, St Andrew - Missing since September 19. Police say Chivaughn is of dark complexion, slim build and 157 centimetres tall. Chivaughn left home for an undisclosed location and has not been seen since. She was wearing a purple blouse, blue jeans pants and a pair of black slippers when she went missing;

. Dave Davis, 32, otherwise called 'Spangler' of Guava Road, St Andrew has been reported missing since Wednesday, August 27. He is of brown complexion, slim build and about 5 feet 8 inches tall;

. Javane Patterson of Tower Avenue, St Andrew. Police say on September 19 Javane left his home and has not been seen or heard from since;

. Nerryssa Hitulah, 15, otherwise called 'Paige' of Evans Avenue, St Johns Heights, St Catherine - Missing since Monday, August 25; and

. Seventy-two-year-old Gloria Scott of Spanish Town, St Catherine. Police say on August 24 the elderly woman walked out of her home and has not been seen since.

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DPP office bungle - Boy charged with carnal abuse is 13, not 11 years old

BY PAUL HENRY Observer staff reporter
Tuesday, October 07, 2008



A charge of carnal abuse against a schoolboy was not withdrawn in the Home Circuit Court yesterday because the youth is not 11 years old as was earlier reported by the Observer on information from a prosecutor.

Paula Llewellyn, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), told the court yesterday that her office had confirmed that the boy was in fact 13 years old and not an 11-year-old as was reported by the Daily Observer on September 26 and in an article published in this week's Sunday Observer.

As a result of the age mix-up, Llewellyn told the court that she will now be asking defence lawyers to furnish certified copies of the birth certificate of any accused whose case is being transferred from the Family Court.

In blasting the Sunday Observer story, Llewellyn suggested that the article seemed to be "calculated to undermine the
public's confidence" in the justice system.

However, Llewellyn made her accusation against the newspaper after being informed by this reporter that the incorrect information in the September 26 story was provided by her office.

The claim that the charge against the boy would have been withdrawn yesterday and which was reported in this week's Sunday Observer story, was made to the newspaper by a second prosecutor who also knocked the Office of the DPP for sloppy work on the case.

"No preparation was done by the Crown, and now everybody is left with eggs on their faces," said the prosecutor, who had requested anonymity.

The youth and three other boys, 13 years to 14 years old, were jointly charged with carnal abuse for sexually assaulting a schoolmate in January and February of this year.

Presiding judge, Justice Bertram Morrison said in court yesterday that he had verified the ages of the boys before he took their guilty pleas when the matter was first brought before him on Thursday, September 25 after being transferred from the Family Court.

The boys' mothers, who were present in court yesterday, also confirmed their ages.

The boys, who are currently on $50,000 bail, were also scheduled for sentencing yesterday but the sentence hearing was put off until October 24 because all the social inquiry reports were not ready. The boys' lawyer was also absent from court.

The Child Care and Protection Act, which replaced the Juvenile Act in 2004, prevents any child under age 12 from being charged or convicted for any offence, including murder.

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Back a yard! - Jamaican Olympians return for week of celebration

Howard Walker, Observer staff reporter
Friday, October 03, 2008



Jamaica's Olympians strike a pose in the VIP Lounge at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday after arriving for the 10-day Olympic Homecoming Celebrations. From left are Dwight Thomas, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Maurice Smith, Kerron Stewart and Richard Phillips. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

TWO-TIME Olympic 200 metres champion, Veronica Campbell-Brown, says it doesn't matter where Jamaicans train; they are destined to run fast. She also says she has no intention of training locally any time soon.

Campbell-Brown arrived in the island yesterday, along with a number of other athletes, for the 10-day Olympic Homecoming Week to mark their outstanding achievements at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The diminutive star, along with double medallist Kerron Stewart, decathalon and team captain Maurice Smith, Dwight Thomas and Richard Phillips, touched down on Air Jamaica at 5:55 pm.

They were greeted by Sports Minister Olivia Grange; Jamaica Athletic Amateur Association (JAAA) president Howard Aris; the legendary Olympian Donald Quarrie; Insports executives Ian Andrews, and Bruce McFarlane, and family members in the VIP Lounge.

"It doesn't matter who you train with, as long as you are talented you're going to run fast," Campbell-Brown told the Observer yesterday.


Double Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown (right) walks with Sports Minister Olivia 'Babsy' Grange while waving to well-wishers on arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

"I have been through the high school system and have gained a lot from it. I have been away from Jamaica since 2001 at Barton County, Arkansas and recently moved to Florida and I have been working with my training programme and it seems to work for me, so I have no interest in changing it; all I can do is improve on it,"
she reiterated.

"Jamaica is known for its rich tradition in sprinting. I am proud for my teammates," she added.

Campbell-Brown, who defended her 200 metres title in August, said she was more than happy with her performance.
"I am satisfied. I could not have asked for anything better. I have to be thankful, it was a great Olympic Games. It feels good to be home," she beamed.

Meanwhile, Stewart, who won silver in the 100 metres and bronze in the 200 metres, was also delighted to be home.
Said Stewart: "I am feeling great. I didn't expect this welcome. I am happy and proud. I am just happy to be home."

Stewart, who started as favourite in the 100 metres, said she couldn't complain after capturing two medals at the Games in Beijing, China.

"Getting two medals... I went there with the intention of getting gold, but a silver and a bronze, what more can I ask for?" said Stewart.

"Just to see three Jamaicans on the podium was most fulfilling than any thing else," she added.

Jamaican athletes took Beijing by storm and to celebrate that glorious accomplishment, government leaders will host an "around town" Float Parade in Kingston.

The athletes will board the three Digicel floats - "Olympic Dreams", "Lightning Bolt" and "Golden Girls"; which will make stops in all the major towns in the Corporate Area, including some of the athletes' own communities.

The excitement will hit the streets in the western part of the island on Tuesday when the parade is staged all over again, moving from Montego Bay through to Falmouth.

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9-month-old boy dies after being sodomised by male relative

KARYL WALKER, Crime/Court co-ordinator
Wednesday, October 01, 2008



A nine-month-old boy is now dead after being viciously sodomised by a 21-year-old male relative in the community of Arnett Gardens in South St Andrew on Monday night.
The male relative, whose identity has been withheld by police, is now in the custody of officers from the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse. He was arrested by cops from the Denham Town Police Station.

According to head of the West Kingston police division,
Superintendent Delroy Hewitt, the accused child rapist is believed to be mentally challenged and is suspected of sexually molesting the infant on more than one occasion.
"We believe that this abuse has been going on for some time.
The child died in the Bustamante Hospital for Children last night (Monday). The man in custody is our main suspect in this sordid case," Hewitt, who was clearly shaken by the incident, told the Observer.

The child's anus was severely ruptured and his abdomen was also badly damaged, police said last night.
Police said the child's mother is serving a five-year sentence in the Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre where he was born. He was handed over to a female relative who was identified by the inmate as someone who could care for her baby.

Police say the child's guardian left him in the custody of a neighbour when the assault occurred.

Last night, head of the Department of Correctional Services, Major Richard Reese, said the mother of the dead infant would be afforded counselling to help her deal with the tragedy.

"We have arranged for psychological support for the inmate and arranged for a visit from the child's father,"
Reese said.

The infant is the fourth child to have met a brutal end last month. On Sunday, what is believed to be the remains of 11-year-old Ananda Dean, who had been missing for two weeks, was found in bushes in Red Hills, St Andrew by residents who went to investigate a lingering stench.

The same day Ananda went missing, the dissected body of 11-year-old Aamir Scott was found in a rice bag in bushes at Sandside in St Mary. His head, arms and legs were severed while his torso was cut in two. Police said a teenager has since confessed to the macabre murder and is now in custody.

Aamir was buried after an emotional funeral service at the Port Maria Seventh-Day Adventist Church last Sunday.
On September 9, the decomposing body of 15-year-old Baggio Easy was found in water at the edge of the Riverton City landfill in Kingston. Easy had also been reported missing by his parents, police said.

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Brutal murder - Headless body found in Red Hills believed to be that of missing 11-year-old girl

TANEISHA LEWIS, Observer staff reporter lewist@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, September 29, 2008

Nordia Campbell (left), mother of 11-year-old Ananda Dean, is consoled by a family friend after looking at the remains of a body believed to be that of her daughter. The body was found in Belvedere, St Andrew. (Photo: Karl McLarty)

SCREAMS of anguish bellowed throughout the community of Belvedere in Red Hills, St Andrew yesterday as firefighters removed a heavily decomposed body believed to be that of 11-year-old Ananda Dean from a steep precipice along Cypress Drive - miles away from where she was last seen after she went missing almost two weeks ago.

"A she, a she.. Oh God," Ananda's aunt, Tamika Campbell bawled, after viewing the headless remains and then falling to the ground seconds later. Upon hearing the news, Nordia Campbell, Ananda's mother, also fainted at the thought that her daughter may have been brutally murdered.

Because of the advanced state of decomposition, no one was able to positively identify the body as that of Ananda. However, some family members, including Campbell, are convinced that it is in fact the little girl, mainly because a black size two school shoes and a navy blue uniform, similar to ones owned by the seventh-grade student of Swallowfield All-Age School, were found at the scene.

Yesterday, Deputy Superintendent Carol McKenzie of the police's St Andrew North Division told the Observer that DNA tests would have to be done to determine the identity of the body.

Ananda, who lived with her family on Whitehall Avenue in Kingston, was last seen on September 17 boarding a bus en route to Half-Way-Tree after school. Several of her school books were found a day after she went missing strewn along a pathway in the community of Pembroke Hall, miles away from where she was last seen.

Firefighters help to hoist a wooden box containing the remains believed to be that of 11-year-old Ananda Dean that was found yesterday over a precipice along the Cypress Road in Belvedere, St Andrew. (Photo: Karl McLarty)

The body was discovered about 10:00 am by residents who decided to investigate the cause of a lingering nasty odour that had been plaguing nearby houses for almost two weeks.
"At first we thought it was a dead animal, but after one week passed and we realised that the scent wasn't going away some people decided to go see what it was," a resident told the Observer. "It was when they chopped out the bush and went up there they found out that it was the little girl's body up there."

It appeared that the body had been thrown from the precipice into overgrown bushes, which concealed it until yesterday.
The residents also intimated that they may have overlooked clues that Ananda's body was disposed of in their community.

"People said they saw the uniform on the road for the longest while but they never knew it was the little girl's own," said another resident who did not wish to be named.

The police are speculating that the body may have been dumped hours or a day after Ananda went missing, given the state of decomposition, which resulted in a pathologist being called in to perform an on-the-spot post-mortem. It was naked and headless. In fact, a skull was all that remained of the head. There were also suggestions that she may have been raped. However, this could not be confirmed by the police.

Yesterday, it took the firefighters from the Stony Hill Fire Department almost three hours to remove the body resting more than 10 feet from the top of Cypress Drive. Once they were able to access the body, it was then put in a wooden box and hoisted up onto the road, keeping the scores of residents that gathered to see if the body was truly that of Ananda - the girl whose picture had been posted on fliers, placed on light posts, buses and in stores in the Corporate Area - in suspense.

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A family grieves for two young children - Boy accidentally kills 3-year-old sister with licensed gun

By KIMONE THOMPSON
Sunday, September 28, 2008

GLEN Green last spoke to his three-year-old daughter Gabrielle yesterday morning. She called him and said she had something to tell him which she couldn't tell anyone else.

But before Glen got to hear the secret, he got news that his baby girl, also called Gabby, was dead. She had been shot in the face.
A distraught Orinthia McCalla, grandmother of three-year-old Gabrielle 'Gabby' Green who died at hospital yesterday, is comforted by close friends of the family. The little girl was accidentally shot by her eight-year-old brother at their home in Independence City, Portmore yesterday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)


A distraught Orinthia McCalla, grandmother of three-year-old Gabrielle 'Gabby' Green who died at hospital yesterday, is comforted by close friends of the family. The little girl was accidentally shot by her eight-year-old brother at their home in Independence City, Portmore yesterday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Even more tragic was that the fatal blow was dealt by the girl's eight-year-old brother as the two played innocently with a loaded gun.

"She call mi and say 'daddy hurry up an come home because mi have something to tell yuh, an mi nuh waan tell nuhbaddy else'. An mi sey it so strange because yesterday (Friday) mi an har and har mother go buy some tings and she just stuck on to me. She nuh lef me. Mi carry har go shop an she say 'daddy mi want dis', an mi buy dem give har. An now mi nuh get fi hear wha shi did waan say," he said, using a black handkerchief to wipe the tears that had welled up and were streaming down his face.

And although the impact on the father and other relatives must be unbearable, it is Gabby's brother whose memory will perhaps be forever haunted.

When the Sunday Observer visited the house where he lived with his sister, mother and maternal grandmother in Independence City, Portmore near midday yesterday, he was crying uncontrollably.

He sat at the feet of his grandmother, Orinthia McCalla, laid his head in her lap and wept sorrowfully. He is only eight, but he knew what had happened. He knew his sister had died. He knew he had accidentally caused it.

"Ah [him] mi sorry fah," one woman said. "Di poor thing look like him ah tun eediat. Him nuh stap scratch scratch himself like supp'n ah bite him."

Neighbours soon after took him to the paediatrician at the nearby Child Care Medical Centre to be examined
and counselled.

McCalla said she and her daughter were in the kitchen preparing breakfast at the time of the tragic incident. They thought the children were at the front of the yard where they had left them playing. They didn't know the game had changed or that it had moved inside the house until the ear-piercing explosion rang out, signalling that something had gone horribly wrong.

"Ah di explosion we hear an we bolt go inside. We meet him ah di doorway ah bawl and then we see har," McCalla said, sitting in a chair across from her house as the police processed the scene.

She went from staring blankly into space, glancing up at the skies calling on God.

"Wha mi a go do? Wha mi a go do?," she cried out. "Mi gran' pickney dem, mi gran' pickney dem."

The children, she said, had apparently been rummaging through the suitcase of an uncle who had just returned from abroad. He had told them he carried gifts for them but the children couldn't wait; they went to find it themselves. What they found however, was not sparkly gift wrap or shiny ribbons. It was their uncle's 9mm pistol.

The Gregory Park police reported yesterday that the firearm was licensed, but they took the uncle in for questioning. He was released pending investigation.

"Yuh know why mi feel it so?," asked McCalla. "If mi did have pickney weh bad and weh go outta di way [mi probably woulda seh is pay back, but mi nuh have no pickney like dat. Ah dat mek mi feel it so," the mother of four said. "Mi family come so far. Everybody big now and nutten [bad] neva happen. Why now? Why now Jesus? Satan is a liar. Ah bind him and sen him back to the pit of hell where him belong," she said, her tone sad and low.

Neighbours described Gabby as "nice", "friendly", "pretty" and "bright". "Nobody nuh pass pan di road an she nuh call to them," one man said.

"She was a pretty, pretty baby. She was sweet and sensible, we lickkle sunshine," McCalla said, recounting things her granddaughter had said.

"To how she pretty and bright, mi just say to miself maybe she neva come here to stay."

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Orlando 'bomber' said to be on

BY TYRONE S REID
Sunday, September 28, 2008

THESE days, Lucille Rodney is longing for one thing. She wants her 'son' Kevin Brown to be reunited with his family.
The April 2008 mugshot taken of Kevin Brown, shortly after being taken to the Seminole County Jail in Florida.

For months she has waited and prayed for the day when she'll embrace him again like only a mother can. But from all indications, she will have to wait a while longer as the federal case against Brown is still before the courts and he is still being held in prison without bail.

Many will remember how Brown, the boy Rodney raised from age five like her own, was arrested at the Orlando International Airport last April while the world sat and watched via live broadcasts - and how he was branded "the Jamaican terrorist". Brown, a former American Army veteran, was about to travel to Jamaica to visit friends and family when he was detained at the Orlando International Airport in Florida after a search of his luggage revealed bomb-making material. The story made international media headlines on April 1 when the image of the tall, robust-looking Jamaican sat handcuffed on a pavement outside the main airport building as law enforcement officers conducted their investigation into the 'mysterious contents' of his travelling bag.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the liquid substance found in Brown's luggage was nitromethane, a potentially explosive formula. Galvanised pipes, end caps, two containers of BBs, batteries, bomb-making literature and a rocket igniter were also allegedly found in Brown's luggage. A laptop computer was removed from his carry-on bag for analysis by the FBI. A judge later ruled that there was enough evidence to proceed against him. He was subsequently charged by the FBI with attempting to place an explosive device on an aeroplane and incarcerated at the Seminole County Jail. He has been in police custody since the arrest.

An FBI criminal complaint later stated that Brown told authorities he wanted to detonate the materials on a tree stump in Jamaica, but later said he was going to show friends in his home country how to build explosives like he saw in Iraq.

Speaking with the Sunday Observer recently at her place of business in St Andrew, Rodney said she has to travel regularly to Orlando to visit Brown, who is being represented in court by two lawyers - one of them Jamaican-born. She noted, too, that he is being closely monitored while incarcerated, and is to return to court in early October.

"He's on suicide watch up there. They are watching him very closely. He was on high-alert but then he came off and they are still treating him for his mental condition. He says he is a bit fed up because a lot of mad people are there and he is not like them," said Rodney, who last visited Brown in August. "The lawyers are working very hard to get the case dismissed because some experts that have been consulted say the equipment he was carrying in his luggage did not pose a threat to passengers on the plane. So because of the federal charges, it is not going to be as easy as we hope. The last hearing was on August 27."

Brown, who went to the US to pursue college education, joined the Army in June 1999. With the dawn of 2003 came the Iraq War. Brown went to serve during the second six months and served double time after his stay was extended - leaving Iraq in early 2005, a little before the brutal murder of Sandra Palmer, his biological mother in Negril. She was strangled. And while the three main suspects have been brought in by investigating officers, three years later, the case has been put off several times. They are due in court on October 3.

Brown's mother-in-law Karen Holt said Brown wasn't the same after returning from Iraq.

"This is not [like] him," said Holt, who lives in North Charleston, South Carolina with Brown's young son. "It has to be a mental issue for him. I know if they looked through his medical records... I'm sure they will see... He's not a terrorist."
Just two days before his mother's murder Brown married a fellow Army officer and made plans to honeymoon in Jamaica. His son, now four, was also born around that time.

According to the Rodney family, the former US soldier sank into a deep depression following his departure from Iraq. The depression, they believe, became compounded when he learnt of his mother's murder, and he subsequently began abusing alcohol.

"The war changed him. The war depressed him, because afterwards he had to seek medication. He became unstable because of his experiences. He saw many of his friends die and heard gunshots 24/7 during his stay over there," Rodney explained.

"And I know for a fact that since his mother died three years ago it has been with him. At the funeral, he got off right there. We had to call a doctor for him. He couldn't believe that his mother died like that. The news was hard to swallow," she said.

"I am still baffled as to why he would have that in his luggage. I can't say why. I can't think for him," his aunt Carmen told the Sunday Observer in an April interview.

Psychologist and human relationship expert, Dr Veronica Salter, said grief and mental anguish can severely alter a person's state of mind and functioning.

"Severe grief is a terrible thing and it can cause anyone to have a breakdown. Grief can certainly alter your state of mind. A lot has happened to [Brown], especially his mother's murder and going to Iraq. The sort of stress he's been exposed to is enough to cause serious mental and emotional damage," Salter told the Sunday Observer. "War is a very traumatic experience. The episodes of violence, one right after another, can take a strong toll on anyone. I am very seriously concerned about what's going to happen to him. I am not one to judge, but he's clearly in need of psychiatric help."

In the meantime, Rodney points out that today Brown is physically healthy and is eating at the prison. But she says the expenses she has to foot to travel to and from the United States are eating away at her savings and she fears her textile business might suffer.

"When I go to Orlando, a million media people surround me up there. It's costing me a lot of money and it's really getting on my nerves. But I am trying to cope. The family is trying to cope. It is very hard. But we get emotional support from people because whenever I go to court, two representatives from the Miami Consulate fly up there with me," she said. "Right now, I am hoping for the best because I really want the case dismissed so that Kevin can focus on getting better and getting his life back on track."

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PM wants new designation for Caricom states Points to peculiar needs, exposure to natural disasters

Saturday, September 27, 2008

PRIME Minister Bruce Golding yesterday called for Jamaica and other Caricom states to be recognised as "small vulnerable and highly Indebted middle-income countries", instead of their current international ranking as "middle income developing countries".

Golding told the United Nations that Jamaica and its Caricom (Caribbean Community) partners were proposing the new designation as a special category of international recognition because of the difficulties created by their peculiar needs, as well as their exposure to natural disasters.

"We call on the international community to devise strategic programmes to address the peculiar needs of middle-income countries with deep pockets of poverty," Golding said.

The prime minister was addressing the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

He said that the focus of development co-operation cannot be too narrowly defined.

Said Golding: "The varied economic and social profiles of developing countries require a more flexible response that recognises investment in human capital, infrastructure and the transfer of technology as critical elements in reducing poverty in a sustained way.

"This is particularly important to developing countries that are classified, based on per capita income, as middle-income countries," the prime minister said.

"This classification deprives them of access to concessionary financing and creative measures to reduce the crippling debt burden that afflicts so many of them. If we are to reduce poverty, the peculiar circumstances of these countries cannot be ignored, since that is where more than one-third of the world's poor are to be found," he added.

Turning to the UN's millennium development goals (MDGs), Golding said that although the process was halfway to the 2015 deadline, it was behind schedule.

"It is time to take stock to see where we are falling behind, who is falling behind and what must be done to make up lost ground," the Jamaican prime minister told the UN.

A critical success factor, he suggested, must be the partnership between developed and developing countries, as defined in the 2002 Monterey Consensus on Financing for Development, integrating aid, debt relief, market access, good governance and foreign direct investment.

"These initiatives were carefully calibrated. Proceeding with some elements without the others will not achieve the goals we have set. Indeed, it might make it worse," he said.

The prime minister said that developing countries must all pull up their socks, if they are to reverse the slippage they have suffered.

"Developing countries must ensure that their priorities are properly structured. Developed countries must live up to their commitment to devote 0.7 per cent of their GDP to official development assistance. This is a modest amount yet, only five countries have to date done so," the prime minister pointed out.

On the issue of global economic governance, Golding said that in 60 years very little change has been made to its governance structure and practices, and he called for a re-engineering of the global financial system.

He said that Jamaica supported the call for reform of the existing financial infrastructure, to reflect the new global realities and make it more proactive and responsive to the needs of the entire world community.

"But, it must involve more than merely expanding the membership of an exclusive club. It must be development-driven, recognising that poverty anywhere, is a threat to prosperity elsewhere," he said.

The crisis currently rocking the world's financial markets reflects the inadequacy of the regulatory structures that are essential to the effective functioning of any market, Golding said. But he said it also represented the failure on the part of the international financial system to facilitate the flow of resources into areas where they can produce real wealth.

"The world is not short of capital. What it lacks are the mechanisms to ensure the efficient utilisation o

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More than $48 m spent on school furniture

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Chief procurement officer in the Ministry of Education, Leon Fraser, has disclosed that more than $48 million has so far been spent on the issuance of contracts to manufacture school furniture, some of which are already being delivered.

"To date, we have ordered furniture in the region of $48 million, and that dollar value will increase as we order more furniture as we go along. Furniture is being distributed to all regions," Fraser disclosed.

But the chief procurement officer said there was a challenge accessing the eastern end of the island with the destruction of the Harbour View bridge.

"There is a challenge with the eastern end of the country, because the bridge at Harbour View was washed out and the ford that was supposed to be built was also washed out.
When the temporary ford was put in place, we managed to get some furniture out to Yallahs and to Seaforth High, and the plan was to get to other schools in that section of the island. But again, we have suffered a setback because the ford was washed out," he said.

He said the ministry was looking at other ways to get the furniture to the affected schools.

"We are hopeful that we can find some alternative route to the ford, we don't know how, but that is the major drawback right now, because we would have really addressed that situation already," he said.

"We don't know how quickly it [the ford] will be repaired so that we can resume deliveries, because we have furniture in production and we are delivering them as they come off the production line. So it's just a matter for us to really get access to the schools," he added.

Fraser said the Ministry had delivered 14,302 pieces of furniture to schools across the island up until Friday, September 19 and deliveries would continue throughout the school year "because we get requests from the regions in an ongoing manner".

"It is very expensive to supply furniture to schools. A set of desks and chairs costs over $4,000, so we need the school management and the students to actually take care of the furniture that is being supplied to the schools. I don't think a lot of them are aware of just how expensive it is, not only to manufacture the furniture ,but to deliver it," he said.

The haulage costs are also high and we want to ensure that all the stakeholders really take care of the furniture, It's one thing to ask us to provide it, but you also need to play your part," he added.

Last year the ministry delivered more than 124, 000 pieces of furniture to schools across the island.

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