News Briefs

Permits needed for use of fireworks

As Jamaicans prepare to ring in the New Year, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ealan Powell is reminding persons that special permits must be granted for the use of fireworks.

“Like any other event that you have, setting off fireworks requires written permits. Permits are granted by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in collaboration with the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), the health department and the municipal corporation,” he said.

“After doing the necessary assessments, these bodies will decide if fireworks can be set off at the requested location. Whoever you are, you do need the requisite permits to set off fireworks, as it can become a safety issue,” he noted further.

In addition, ACP Powell said that the police have the right to turn off music that is causing a disturbance to residents, regardless of the extended hours granted under the Noise Abatement Act for the holiday period.

 

 

Family awaiting hotel worker's post mortem

The family of 27-year-old hotel worker Shane Perry is still awaiting a post mortem after his body was found more than a month ago in bushes near Burwood Beach in Trelawny.

Perry, who resided at Coral Spring in the parish and worked at Royalton White Sands hotel, was reported missing on November 15 and his body found a day later.

"The Accident and Reconstruction Unit from Area One has completed their reconstruction of the apparent accident," Corporal Kirkland Cross told The Gleaner. " They have concluded from their reconstruction that the car – a Toyota Levin – picked a skid and ran off into the bushes. Perry's body was found trapped in the car," Cross said.

Perry had reportedly bought the car a day earlier.

His mother, Ingrid Blagrove, said Perry was a popular figure at his workplace, where he worked in the Entertainment Department.

"Shane was my first child," she told The Gleaner. "He was always a fun-loving person with a permanent smile on his face."

 

 

St Vincent bans prosecution of children under 12

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC):

The St Vincent and the Grenadines parliament has passed legislation that sets the age of criminal responsibility for a child at the age of 12, up from eight years old.

“That is to say, a child under 12 shall not be prosecuted for an offence that he or she is alleged to have committed,” said the Minister of National Mobilisation Frederick Stephenson.

“A child age 12 but under the age of 14 years shall be presumed not to have the capacity to appreciate the difference between right and wrong unless this is proved otherwise,” he told Parliament when he piloted the legislation last week.

Under the law, neither corporal punishment nor a sentence of life imprisonment can be imposed on a child under the Child Justice Act, which also notes that prosecution of a child age 12 but less than 14 years old must be on the basis of certification of the director of public prosecution.