Police blamed for delayed manhunt, botched arrest
Published:Saturday | January 25, 2020 | 12:00 AM
The Seaview Gardens and Richie Lane communities drowned in tears as the death of eight-year-old Galen Buchanan sank in yesterday.
According to reports from the police communications arm, a resident stumbled upon Buchanan’s body in the Kingston Harbour, near Manley Close in east Kingston, on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. and alerted the police. .
However, residents of Richie Lane, near Spanish Town Road, are angry at the police for not moving quickly enough to recover the child, who was presumed abducted.
“Look how long wi a tell the police dem and dem a send wi all over the place, and a now dem wah come talk to wi when him dead?” one resident cried.
“Wi tell dem seh wi see when the man come and tek the pickney and all now dem nuh come and ask fi see a picture a di man.”
Residents close to the situation told The Gleaner that Phillip Rose, the estranged lover of the boy’s mother, Tamara Lewis, came to take away a younger relative but left with Galen instead.
The Tuesday morning him come fi the woman granddaughter enuh and her mother tell him seh, she is not there and Nicolas gone a school. In the night him walk past the likkle bwoi fada and tell him good evening and come and call the likkle bwoi outta him house and tek him weh …” another lamented.
Residents said they went the extra mile in the search for Galen.
Following news of the child’s death on Thursday, residents took to the street yesterday to protest. They demanded justice for the young boy’s life and scolded the police’s inaction.
They alleged that they were strung around by personnel when they went to report the child missing Tuesday, being referred to police stations in Duhaney Park, Trench Town, and Constant Spring.
Community members were also angry that the police allowed Rose to escape when they got a tip-off about his whereabouts.
“The people dem tell the police weh fi go and seh to them seh when dem a come, just come silent. A bare noise the man dem go up deh wid and mek the man jump over the gully and get weh and then dem tun round and a ask who have flashlight. Dat nuh right!” one man said.
When The Gleaner visited the Roehampton Close premises in St Andrew where the man was said to have been before his escape, man there said that a relative had left the house because she was fearful of becoming the victim of retaliation for Rose, her nephew.
When asked about the Rose’s mental state, the source said he seemed fine.
“All this time him did all right, so mi nuh think nothing do him,” he said.
Senior Superintendent of Police Stephanie Lindsay said that Rose has several aliases – Paul Williams, Paul Rose, Rochester Rose or Ochester Rose – and is appealing for help from the public.
“The police would like to speak with him because he was the last to see the child alive,” Lindsay said.