Blog Crime Reports

Murder accused Runako Lee Omar Husbands said it was never his intention to shoot or harm Terrence Phillips on August 12, 2011, only to protect himself.

Husbands, of No 1 Chapel Gap, Paynes Bay, St James, made the comments on Wednesday in an unsworn statement from the prison’s dock of the No. 2 Supreme Court.

He is on trial before Justice Randall Worrell and a jury accused of killing Phillips. Phillips died as a result of hemorrhagic shock caused by a gunshot wound to the chest, according to a postmortem.

After asking the judge for permission to read from a prepared statement he had on his cellular phone, Husbands said: “The gun went off when we were struggling for Papa T’s gun. I did not have a gun on that day. I did not intend to shoot or harm him. I was frightened and trying to protect myself.”

The accused went on to point to the jury and the court two pictures that were submitted into evidence during the trial. He explained where the alleged struggle took place, among other things.

“Papa T ran in this direction and I rode my bicycle in the other direction. So at no time I was chasing him or running him, Sir or firing shots at him,” Husbands said.

“Everything happened so fast . . . .” 

His attorneys Angella Mitchell-Gittens and Kristen Vanderpool will continue to put their case to the judge and jury on Thursday.

The prosecutors in the matter are Senior State Counsel Oliver Thomas and State Counsel Anastacia McMeo.

https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/03/02/murder-accused-tells-court-he-had-no-intention-of-killing-man/

Adrian Obrian Williams threw in the towel and pleaded guilty to murder, two days after jurors began hearing evidence in his trial.

The Henley Land, St John resident on Thursday admitted to stabbing Jakeil Small to death on March 23, 2018 at Regent Hill, the Pine, St Michael.

His plea came after three witnesses, including one eyewitness, testified on the second day of his trial before Justice Carlisle Greaves and a 12-member jury in the No. 3 Supreme Court.

Following Williams’ re-arraignment, which was done at the request of his attorney Angella Mitchell-Gittens, Justice Greaves instructed jurors to return a formal guilty verdict on the single-count indictment against the accused.

Eyewitness Jason Alleyne, responding to questions from Senior State Counsel Neville Watson, testified that he drove his girlfriend, Williams who he knows as ‘Waxy’, and his cousin, who is also Williams’ girlfriend, to Sheraton Mall on March 23, 2018. From there, they travelled to Oistins and spent some time there. 

They were making their way back home when Williams informed him he needed some Ital food. After some discussion, Williams suggested that they go to the Pine.

After they arrived, the two women waited in the car while he and Williams went to order the food. 

Alleyne said he asked Williams where he could get wrappers, and Williams directed him. He said he left Williams at the shop, but on his way back, “I see Waxy and a man got it inside the road. They were scuffling, they were fighting . . . . A good set of people were there too”.

“He was on the ground and Waxy was over he. To tell you the truth, when I see Waxy over he, I ran and head back to the car because . . . my intention was to get from ‘bout dey,” Alleyne added.

The witness said that while he was trying to drive out, Williams ran up to the car and got in.

The prosecutor asked the witness to describe Williams at the point he got in the car, to which Alleyne replied: “He look like how you look when you now commit a crime. That was the sort of look on his face and he wasn’t saying nothing. Nobody in the car wasn’t saying nothing.”

Alleyne said he couldn’t see whether Williams had anything in his hand at the time he was over the other man because he saw him at a distance. 

“So I couldn’t really see if he had something in he hand or not,” the witness said.

Alleyne said that later that night, Williams came to his house.

“I tell he that if he know that de man dead. I hear that de man dead the evening time. He tell me yeh that he know de man dead. He tell me that to don’t worry bout nothing just do what he say. . . that when it come to this . . . I don’t know nothing. . . and anybody ask me anything, I ain’t carry he in de Pine,” he testified.

The witness further told the court that when he got home, there was blood in his car, in the back where Williams was seated.

“I ain’t do nothing with it. When I come home, I ain’t clean out the car or nothing. The police had the car the next day,” he said.

Under cross-examination by Mitchell-Gittens, Alleyne admitted that he did not see who the accused was fighting with that day.

Following his testimony, the court took a break and the defence returned with a submission for Williams to be re-arraigned.

Earlier, before Alleyne took the stand, lead investigator Frank Olton said he questioned Williams about Small’s murder on March 27, 2018 after telling him of his rights.

The officer said he told Williams that Small succumbed to his injuries at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He also told Williams he suspected that he was involved in the fatal stabbing.

Williams, the officer said, replied: “Man I ain”t know nothing about that body death. I ain’t went nowhere in the Pine and I ain’t see that boy since he shoot me.”

The now-convicted man, who remains on remand, will reappear before Justice Greaves for sentencing on June 23.

A 12-member jury returned the unanimous verdict on Friday after Madam Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell gave her summation of the trial in the No. 4 Supreme Court.

Ellis, of Denny Road, Thorpes, St James, was charged with the fatal shooting of 31-year-old Lorenzo Joseph on February 16, 2019 in New Orleans, St Michael.

“Mr Ellis, a jury of your peers has found you guilty. You are remanded into custody,” Justice Smith-Bovell told the convicted man who had been on remand throughout his trial.

She also ordered a pre-sentencing report which is to be prepared by June 23.

Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Alliston Seale, along with his juniors, State Counsels Maya Kellman, Tre-Ann Knight and Paul Prescod prosecuted the case.

Following the verdict, the deputy DPP informed the court that Ellis had to answer another matter stemming from his shooting on the day that Joseph was killed.

The prosecutor queried the convict’s plan for that matter.

However, defence attorneys King’s Counsel Michael Lashley, Sade Harris and Zudie Payne asked for time to discuss that case.

As such, Ellis, who was previously not known to the court, will make another appearance before Justice Smith-Bovell on May 12, prior to the sentencing phase of his murder case.https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/04/22/ellis-guilty-of-2019-murder/

A Bridgetown store owner is counting several thousands of dollars in losses following a daring break-in at a City business earlier this week..

In an interview with Barbados TODAY manager of MOH Electronics Jamar Peters confirmed that the robbery took place at the Tudor Street branch between 1:20 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. last Sunday from March 18th.

He said the store owner was out of the island and he was alerted to the robbery around 11 a.m. when someone from another store in the same building contacted him.

Peters could not give the dollar value of the items stolen but he said about 40 to 50 high-end items including refurbished and new cell phones, laptops and tablets were taken.

The store manager said he believed the store was targeted and the robbers, who he said appeared to be young men, were very familiar with the store.

“They knew what they were coming for, it seems they came in the store previously. The way the break-in occurred, we were targeted. The landlord didn’t even know that the building was built in such a way that the robbery could be done, at that point in time,” he said.

“They entered from the staircase. There was a slim opening between the staircase that was wall and wood so they found the exact part where the wood was and it was like the old time concrete board and they broke in. I don’t know how they knew this information, I can just assume. I feel like they were close to the building.

They broke the glass with tape and climbed through the glass.

“The guys also looked pretty young in the footage and the way they were moving the cameras it looked like they had done this before. They were very calm. There were six cameras and the first thing they did was move the cameras but the two that captured them, they didn’t see those.”

Peters said the police were investigating the matter, noting they had already downloaded a copy of the footage, a part of which was circulated on social media.

The video showed two masked men, one in a hoodie, jumping through a section of the store and stealing the items.

When Barbados TODAY visited the store earlier this week, business was being conducted as usual and there was police presence.

During the interview, the store manager also appealed to Barbadians to be more cautious in these times.

“I would like to encourage everyone, not just store owners, to be more vigilant because times have changed. Crime is higher, it is in plain sight. Bridgetown generally should have more lighting. When you travel the world and you go to someone’s capital the major streets always have lighting, bright lights.”

He added that this was not the first time MOH Electronics was hit by thieves.

In 2021 the branch in Spooner’s Hill, St Michael was robbed twice. (SZB)

https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/03/18/businessman-urges-greater-cautions-as-store-attempts-to-recover-after-daring-robbery/

Lawmen are investigating separate incidents which left two people nursing wounds on Wednesda

According to the Barbados Police Service’s Public Relations Officer Inspector Rodney Inniss, around 12.50 pm, a 30-year old man reported that he had been shot in his stomach by another man, whilst at the National Botanical Gardens in an area near to the Combermere School.

He was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by ambulance to undergo surgery and was said to be in critical, but stable, condition.

The assailant reportedly walked away from the scene in the company of a female and three children.

Meanwhile, around 3:15 p.m., a man armed with a knife entered the Black Rock, St. Michael branch of the Channell Supermarket and stole a sum of money from a cashier as she opened the register. A security guard intervened to stop the perpetrator’s escape and was injured before the man fled the scene on foot.

The guard was treated by two medical doctors who visited the scene and then transported to the QEH for further medical attention. His injuries are said to be ‘not serious’.

The Barbados Police Service is asking anyone who may have witnessed or have any knowledge of either of these incidents to contact the District “A” Police Station at 430-7242, Police Emergency at 211 or any police station. (JB)

https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/04/13/two-injured-in-shooting-robbery-incidents/

Nine detainees escaped from Her Majesty's Prison in St. Kitts. However, four of them were quickly recaptured by the authorities.

On April 28th 2023, the St. Kitts police provided an update on the situation, stating that four detainees have been found, but Nicholas Areche, who is believed to be the captain of the boat that allegedly smuggled Africans out of Antigua, is still at large.

Areche's escape is concerning due to his alleged involvement in the smuggling of migrants, which resulted in a fatal boat accident. The boat carrying the migrants sank, leading to the loss of three lives.

The authorities are continuing their search for Areche and have urged anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact them immediately.

Awaiting his sentencing for murder is Kenworth Charles, a former IT technician at Mount St John’s Medical Centre, after being found guilty of killing retired soldier Fitzroy Robins in an altercation that took place on July 24, 2020, in Bay Street, Villa.

Charles, who is currently incarcerated, stabbed Robins to death following an argument that began when he refused to pay for beers he had taken from a woman's cooler. After arriving at the scene, Robins asked Charles to pay for the drinks, which he did, but Charles did not return until the day of the murder, when he confronted Robins and stabbed him multiple times with a knife during a scuffle.

Charles claimed he was under the influence of alcohol and was attacked by Robins, but he was found guilty by the jury. Charles was supposed to be sentenced on March 22, but the hearing was rescheduled for May 5.

On April 23rd 2023:

Authorities have confiscated a quantity of marijuana valued at over $60,000 during a recent drug interdiction operation at V.C. Bird International Airport.

Members of the Narcotics Department and K9 Unit, assisted by the Customs Enforcement Unit, conducted a joint drug interdiction exercise at the airport. During a search of the LIAT cargo shed, officers discovered 11 large packages of marijuana, weighing 10 ½ pounds, concealed in a brown cardboard box.

The seized substance has an estimated street value of $63,000. The box and its contents were transported to Police Headquarters for further investigation.

On April 29th 2023:

Law enforcement has apprehended a 60-year-old man from Grey Hill after he allegedly attempted to rob a superette on Desouza Road.

According to reports, the suspect threatened the cashier with a weapon around 5 pm today but was disarmed by a nearby individual who intervened. The suspect was then detained until police arrived.

Upon examination, it was discovered that the weapon in question was a BB-GUN, and authorities have speculated that the suspect may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The individual who apprehended the suspect is being praised as a hero.

The police are currently investigating the incident.

Vehicle that was set ablaze on Friday when a man attempted to set himself on fire in Greenwich Town, St Andrew

Aman who is believed to have attempted to set himself ablaze Friday morning was rescued by residents in Greenwich Town, St Andrew.

According to the residents, around 10:00 am they observed a car on fire and upon trying to put out the blaze they realised the owner of the car was seated inside.They say the man refused to come out of the burning car causing them to take evasive action to get him out.

“Mi over they so a put on some concrete and thing and we hear fire, [and] we run out and see the youth in a di car sit down and not moving at all. So we did have some pan a water over there and we start throw it pan the car, and thing, and him nah come out nuh care how people a say ‘come out’ him lock himself in a di car. We deh there a throw water fi ‘bout five minutes and him still nah come out,” said Daniel Bartley, one of the rescuers.

“So the people dem come down and seh mek we bruk the glass. So, when we go so and bruk the glass [we] draw him throw the window and when we draw him throw the window him just a sit down pan the ground so a look straight in the air and not moving at all,” Bartely added.

The Jamaica Fire Brigade was called to assist in putting out the blaze.

Jason Neil

MANCHESTER, Jamaica – A coroner’s inquest is set for September 7 into the death of Mandeville businessman Jason Neil, almost five years after he was suspected to have committed suicide at his Ingleside home.

Attorney Ashleigh Ximines of the law firm Knight Junor and Samuels, who is representing Bunny Neil, Jason’s father, made an application for the inquest in the Coroner’s Court in Mandeville on Thursday morning.

Presiding Judge Monique Harrison granted the application for the inquest to begin on September 7.

“That would be the date that the inquest would be heard. Therefore, witnesses will be called and they would have to give evidence. At court today I made an application on behalf of King’s Counsel KD Knight, who regrettably was not able to make it today,” Ximines told journalists outside the court in James Warehouse plaza.

“For the interested party in the matter being Mr Bunny Neil, the father of the deceased, being permitted to ask questions of any witness during the matter through his attorneys at law,” added Ximines.

Bunny Neil and his daughter Stacy Neil were in court when the application was being made on Thursday.

Police reports are that about 7:00 am, his wife heard an explosion and when she went to investigate, Neil was allegedly seen on the floor with his licensed firearm beside him. He was pronounced dead at hospital.

Neil, a proprietor of the second-generation family-owned business, Neil's Auto Service, located on Ward Avenue in Mandeville was interred at a family plot in Dunder Hill, St Elizabeth.

When asked about the progress of the matter Ximines said it has been “prolonged”.

“… It has been fraught with much delay regrettably and thankfully based on the court’s posture right now, we are seeing much progress and we are hoping that the inquest could start, not sure if it will end on the 7 th (September), but it definitely should start.. Given all the things that have happened thus far,” said the attorney.

“I cannot speak to all the reasons as to what has caused the delays, but I do know that scheduling of diaries, the availability of witnesses, the availability of jury members. Those issues have caused some delay, the scheduling difficulties. There may be other reasons, but at this point I cannot comment on them… Full disclosure has been made in the matter. We have had previous court disclosure dates and that has been fully complied with right now,” she added.

ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica – Detective Sergeant Sheldon Dobson, whose 18-month-old daughter died after being left unattended in his car for several hours last year, had his case committed to the St Elizabeth Circuit Court following a hearing on Thursday.

Dobson, who appeared before presiding Judge Brodrick Smith, is to return to court on July 27.

His attorney Thomas Levene told OBSERVER ONLINE that Dobson’s bail was reduced from $750,000 to $200,000.

“The hearing saw submissions made by the Prosecution and the Defense Attorney. Ruling made that a prima facie case made out for Manslaughter. Given the circumstances he was offered bail for his appearance in Circuit, but in a reduced sum of $200,000. He was previously on bail in the sum of $750,000,” said Levene.On January 17, 2022, Dobson, during a change of routine, left his baby daughter in his car for hours when he got to work at the Black River Police Station. The child, Shaleah Dobson, died two days later at hospital.

Reports at the time indicated that the child would have been cared for on a daily basis by her maternal grandmother, while her parents were at work, but a day-care arrangement was made after the grandmother fell ill.

The detective sergeant in his rush to start work, is said to have forgotten the little girl on the backseat of the car, and drove off in a police service vehicle to Warminster, south-east St Elizabeth, about a 45-minute trip by road from Black River, to carry out a further probe into the case of a former Haitian official who was held on January 15, 2022 along with his wife, and two children.

The detective sergeant at that time was assigned to the Black River police station, while the child’s mother, a sergeant of police, was in the same St Elizabeth Division.

The Denham Town police have confirmed that Dave Williams, a 21-year-old resident from Kingston 14, was arrested and charged after he allegedly a part of a group of men who shot and injured a man along Bond Street in the parish on December 2022. 

According to the police, about 6:34 a.m. on December 5 2022, a man was riding his motorcycle along the roadway when he was pounced upon by gunmen, including Williams, who opened gunfire hitting him.

After the shooting subsided, the man managed to transport himself to the hospital where he was treated. A report was made to the police and an investigation was launched— during which, Williams was arrested.

On Monday, April 24, Williams was charged after he underwent a question-and-answer segment in the presence of his attorney. His court date has not been finalised.

Rohan Rose, the security guard implicated in the murder of social media influencer Aneka ‘Slickianna’ Townsend, is to get a trial date set by the St James Circuit Court.

Rose was charged with the misprision of a felony, which is when someone knows a felony has been committed but fails to inform the authorities.

He is expected to return to court on May 5.

Rose, who is represented by attorney Martyn Thomas, got the new court date and had his bail extended by presiding High Court Justice Judith Pusey when he appeared before the court today.

The prosecution is expected to agree on a trial date with attorney Thomas when the matter is mentioned again on May 5.

Rose was arrested and charged on November 4 last year under allegations that he failed to inform the police that Rushawn Patterson, the man charged with Townsend’s murder, had confessed to him about killing the now-deceased woman.

The practical nurse who was shot and injured during a brazen midday shooting yesterday along the Sandy Bay main road in Clarendon has died.

She has been identified as 25-year-old Avagay Ellis of Rosewell Road in Sandy Bay.

It is reported that about 1:45 p.m., the woman was on her way home when a black Honda Stream motor car drove up behind her.

A man exited the vehicle and opened gunfire, hitting Ellis in the buttocks, hands and face.

Ellis succumbed to the injuries on Wednesday night whilst being treated. 

A total of 37 people were killed in Clarendon up to April 23. The figure shows a 76.2 per cent increase when compared to 21 homicides over the corresponding period last year.

Commission battles frequent breach of facilities, loss of equipment, cutting off customers from supply.

NWC staff conducting an operation to clamp down on water theft in St Catherine in February 2022.

Vandals have been tampering with National Water Commission (NWC) systems, sometimes stealing pieces of critical equipment, causing disruption to the company's operations for hours and even days at a time.

In one of the latest attacks, thieves made off with equipment used to operate pumping stations in the southern parts of the island.

Delano Williams, acting corporate public relations manager at the NWC, told The Gleaner that the New Forest water supply system in St Elizabeth is often targeted by people who force access through a fence and illegally shut down the pump in a bid to use welding and torch equipment to puncture the pipes and fabricate illegal connections.

He said that despite the several million gallons of water that the station outputs, the NWC had been receiving complaints that the commodity was not reaching the taps of registered customers, which cause the company to realise there was a problem.

“After our [investigations], we had detected and removed over 86 illegal connections, ranging from half-inch to one-inch lines. We've also pulled up from our network over 500 metres of pipelines,” he said, noting that many of these connections ran into several parts of the community, primarily in the Bull Savannah and Duff House areas.

“What we are finding is that they are becoming even more brazen in their efforts to access the pump that is running at high pressures of over 100 PSI (pounds per square inch), sometimes 200 PSI in instances,” he said.

RISKY

Williams said there were two such instances discovered within the last month, adding that they not only pose a risk to the commission's equipment and its ability to supply its customers but also could endanger NWC employees.

Over in Hanberry, Clarendon, which primarily supplies Longville Park Phase 3 and other nearby areas, the electrical components, including wires, were also stolen off the pumps.

“These are very critical wires that run our operation and that we rely on heavily to run our pumps, to run our motors, and to distribute water supply. So, it is almost a cowardly but selfish act in whatever value they may think [is there],” Williams said.

“Once you have this kind of thing, you literally have to rewire the component box or sometimes rewire some aspect of the plant, depending on the level of damage that is caused by the vandalism,” he added.

The NWC was able to restore service in 24 hours in that instance.

The NWC was unable to provide The Gleaner with an estimate of the damage done to its systems by vandals and thieves as it is still quantifying the losses. However, Williams said that the electrical equipment found at most sites cost several hundred thousand dollars, and in some areas, the cost of repairs surged into the millions with some replacement parts having to be imported.

Williams referenced the 2015 vandalism incident at the Goshen Pen pumping station in St Catherine, which forced the NWC to install electric fencing in an effort to safeguard the facility.

“Some of our facilities, by the very nature of where the water sources are, whether they are well or river sources, they are in somewhat underpopulated or in remote areas, and while we take great pains to fence them [and] to have guards in some instances, it is difficult to prevent persons from accessing them at different times,” he explained.

He could not say whether the state agency was considering the installation of more electric fences in the problem areas.

“We have lost, in instances, over three million gallons on an average day because of these illegal connections,” said Williams.

He noted that in some instances, several illegal water lines ran hundreds of metres into different farms, which were not using drip irrigation but instead had the water spraying out constantly even during heavy rainfall, “sucking our main pipeline dry”.

Although there have been no arrests in any of the locations mentioned, Williams stated that the NWC has ramped up its monitoring activities and is prepared to pursue the matter to the fullest extent to have offenders prosecuted.

“When we got to the plant, there was no one on the scene but the police are continuing their investigation ... ,” he told The Gleaner.

Williams appealed to residents and business owners located near NWC facilities to assist in alerting the commission or the police if they see anyone trying to gain unlawful access to its plants.

The body of an unidentified male was discovered along a section of the AJ Coombs Highway in Montego Bay, St James, on Thursday morning.

The body, which is of dark complexion, was discovered lying on its back, with the face covered.

It is reported that shortly after 8 a.m., a passerby discovered the body at the side of the road in the vicinity of the Bogue Sewage Plant and summoned the police.

The cause of death is not yet known.