FOUR PEOPLE MURDERED YESTERDAY

Four Dead As Murders Rock Western Jamaica

Blood washed western Jamaica yesterday as fresh on the heels of Valentine’s Day, lovers’ quarrels ended in death for three persons in St James and St Elizabeth while a female farmer was butchered in Trelawny.

Yesterday morning, grief gripped residents of Clark’s Town, Trelawny, as the farming community woke up to news that on Thursday night, the body of a female farmer was found in bushes with the head severed.

The victim, who was last seen walking in the direction of her farm on Thursday, has been identified as 59-year-old Valerie ‘Ms P’ Thompson of Hampshire Lane in Clark’s Town.

WhenThe Gleaner visited Thompson’s home, family members were inconsolable as they questioned the motive behind the gruesome act.

“Dem neva haffi do har so,” wailed Kamara Thompson, the slain woman’s 25-year-old daughter. “Mi mother neva do anybody nothing, and look how dem kill har.”

The distraught daughter said that her mother left for her farm on Thursday morning and said she would have been away for most of the day. When late evening came and she did not return and calls to her cellular phones went unanswered, a search party went to find her.

“Wi go in a di bush two time, but we never find har,” the daughter said. “Two a wi man cousin dem decide fi go back in a di bush fi look again. Dis time, we find her shoes, and den wi find di body with most of it cover wid banana trash.”

According to Thompson, her mother’s body was found nude and had chop wounds all over.

“It look like seh she did a try fi run and dem chop off her head from behind,” the daughter said. “Three of her finger dem missing … . A nuff chop she get.”

The Clark’s Town police, who were alerted to the incident, told The Gleaner that based on their observations, the elderly woman was raped and then killed. They also believe that she put up a brave fight based on the number of chop wounds on her body.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Jermaine Delattibudiere, the officer in charge of crime for Trelawny, said that no effort would be spared in bringing the guilty party to justice.

“This is a most unfortunate incident, and we are now working with some strong leads,” said Delattibudiere. “We have already picked up a suspect, and we are carrying out further investigations.”

The beheading of Thompson is the second such incident in western Jamaica in recent days and at least the third in the island within a week. On Wednesday, the police discovered the partially decomposing body of a man, whose head was severed, in bushes in Coral Gardens, St James, and last weekend, 30-year-old Bryan Mitchell was beheaded in Central Village, St Catherine.

Wife Ambushed
While sleuths in Trelawny worked on the investigation in Trelawny, news emerged of a domestic dispute, which began on Valentine’s Day, ending in tragedy yesterday morning in St Elizabeth.

Reports are that at about 6:45 a.m., 49-nine-year-old Moy-Lyn Williams Topping, a bus driver of South Field in the southwestern Jamaica parish, was in the process of leaving home to do her regular duties transporting children to school when she was ambushed by her husband, who shot her multiple times before fleeing the scene.

She was rushed to the Black River Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Her husband, who recently arrived in the island from the United States, was picked up at the airport hours later while attempting to board a flight back to the United States at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.

Murder-Suicide
Still, there was more blood-letting to come.

This time, it was the Friday afternoon hustle and bustle in Spring Mount, St James, that came to a dramatic halt as gunshots pierced the air when a former nightclub operator of Lilliput in St James shot his girlfriend to death before turning the weapon on himself.

The deceased man has been identified as 47-year-old Junior Fabian Wint, while the woman has been identified as 24-year-old Wendy Scarlett.

Reports are that shortly after 3:30p.m., the couple, who recently moved to Flamstead Gardens in the area, got involved in an argument, allegedly over the female attending a funeral.

The woman decided that she was going to the funeral and walked from the house, but she was chased by Wint, who is believed to have been a licensed firearm holder. He caught up with her along the roadway.

“Mi hear when the man say, ‘You nah go a no funeral. Not over mi dead body!’” one Spring Mount resident told The Gleaner.

“Mi shock when mi see di man pull out the gun and fire one shot in a the woman head, and then him put the gun to him mouth and fire another round, killing himself,” the frightened community member further stated.

Sources told The Gleaner that the businessman, who was married, broke off with his wife and got involved with Scarlett and had been acting in a jealous manner, refusing to let her out of his sight.