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Jamaican doctor killed in New York

Published:Thursday | December 29, 2022 | 1:21 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer

A Jamaican paediatrician practising in New York, was murdered in a four-day crime spree in Harlem, New York, last week. The body of 60-year-old Dr Bruce Maurice Henry was discovered inside Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem in the early hours of December...

A Jamaican paediatrician practising in New York, was murdered in a four-day crime spree in Harlem, New York, last week.

The body of 60-year-old Dr Bruce Maurice Henry was discovered inside Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem in the early hours of December 23. His throat was slashed and he had been stabbed several times.

Henry was born in Lucea, Hanover, but grew up in neighbouring Westmoreland. He spent his formative years in Jamaica before migrating to the United States, where he obtained his medical degree in 1987.

Throughout his career, he worked with several hospitals in the New York area.

Dr Roy Streete, the head of the Overseas International Development (OID) who has known Henry for over two decades, recalled that he was very good with children.

“He made several medical trips with OID and was a gentle person,” Streete said. “It is a very sad occurrence.”

Police began searching for Henry’s car after obtaining video of a man and a woman entering the car near the park.

On Monday, the police arrested 35-year-old ex-convict Roland Codrington and charged him with Henry’s murder.

He is accused of killing two people and stabbing two others in four days, with Henry being his last victim.

According to the police, there was no prior interaction between Codrington and Henry.

Codrington, who was apprehended while driving Henry’s Mercedes-Benz, has been described by the New York police as a career criminal with at least a dozen prior busts on his rap sheet.

According to Chief of Patrol John Chell, three “sharp-eyed officers from the 30th police precinct made the apprehension”.

The accused man was with four other people when he was approached by cops and he told them that he was the person they wanted, a police report said.

According to a New York Times report, the crime spree began about 1 a.m. last week Monday, when a 51-year-old man was fatally slashed in Manhattan.

Police said the victim could be seen on video walking along a roadway when he was approached by a man, now identified as Codrington, and a woman, who police say is his girlfriend. After a brief argument, Codrington reportedly pulled out a knife and slashed the other man’s neck.

The second incident reportedly took place on Thursday at around 11:30 p.m. at a bar in East Harlem. Codrington, who had been thrown out of the bar a week earlier after a dispute with staff, returned with his girlfriend, a pit bull and a baseball bat, the police said.

He reportedly assaulted the bartender and destroyed property. He allegedly used a large knife to stab two customers who intervened. Their injuries were not life-threatening.

The police further report that Codrington went home, then left to take a walk early Friday morning, when he encountered Henry in the park and stabbed him to death after an argument.

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