News Briefs

Suspect in 2018 double murder charged

The St Catherine South Police have charged a suspect with the 2018 murders of a man and a woman in Zambia, Central Village, St Catherine.

Reports are that 24-year-old customer service representative Nicolet Alexander Hardy and 29-year-old security officer Fabian Hardy were at their home about 7 p.m. on October 8, 2018, when armed men allegedly kicked in their front door and opened fire, hitting the couple multiple times.

The police were summoned and they were taken to hospital, where Nicolet was pronounced dead on arrival and Fabian succumbed to his injuries days later.

Following investigations, the suspect was picked up during an operation in Bull Bay, St Andrew, last week and subsequently charged.

His identity is being withheld as investigations continue into other crimes.

J’can among four charged with T&T man’s murder

PORT-OF-SPAIN (CMC):

Police have charged four people, including 34-year-old Jamaican Kourtney Grayson, with murder after the body of 64-year-old businessman Koongebeharry Jaisarie was found buried behind an unfinished concrete structure in Tobago last month.

The others charged are 40-year-old Nigel Winchester, 36-year-old Dwayne Marcelle and 54-year-old Margaret Waheed Jattan.

Police said that the Jamaican and Jattan live in Trinidad, while the other two accused are from Tobago.

Jaisarie was reported missing on June 7. He was last seen in Trinidad on June 4, when he travelled to Tobago, and his body was discovered on June 23 after investigators exhumed the body from a grave, approximately eight feet deep.

J’cans exempt from COVID-19 quarantine in Britain

LONDON (AP):

Jamaica is among 73 low-risk countries and territories named by the British government whose travellers will be exempted from quarantine as the coronavirus pandemic continues to grip the world.

The list also includes Australia, New Zealand and much of western Europe – though not Portugal or Sweden, which have relatively high infection rates. Also on the list are Asian nations such as South Korea and Vietnam that have tamed their outbreaks and several other Caribbean nations.

The United States, which has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, is not on the list. Neither are China, Russia or Brazil.

England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, has defended the move amid criticisms, saying that the authorities were trying “to balance as best we can the multiple risks”.

“No one believes … this is a risk-free next step,” he said. “It’s absolutely not.

“This virus is a long way from gone.”

Haiti records significant increase in COVID-19 cases

PORT AU PRINCE (CMC):

Haiti has recorded a significance spike in coronavirus cases after having kept the daily increases below 100 for several days.

The Ministry of Health said that the 129 new cases on Friday had pushed the total to 6,230 since the first case was detected in March.

The country has recorded 110 COVID-19 deaths, with 4,834 active cases currently.

The government has also announced that schools and university activities will resume on August 10 in order to complete the 2019-2020 academic year.