Holiday break
Escapees from Oracabessa lockup stay on the run through Christmas
Published:Wednesday | December 27, 2023 | 12:10 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
The seven detainees who escaped from the Oracabessa police lockup last Thursday, just ahead of the Christmas holidays, were up to yesterday evening still on the run.
Senior Superintendent of Police Stephanie Lindsay, head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Corporate Communications Unit, told The Gleaner yesterday that the last update she had received was that the escapees were still at large and that the search was ongoing.
The detainees were discovered missing during a routine cell check early Thursday morning.
Preliminary reports from law enforcement were that the men managed to escape from custody by cutting through a ventilation grille.
Gaveen Hurd, 31, has been identified by the police as the ringleader of those responsible for plotting and orchestrating the breakout.
Hurd is charged with murder and had been remanded at the lockup for a year.
According to the JCF, he is known to frequent Stony Hill, St Andrew, and Enfield in St Mary.
The others are Tray Walker, 24 of Claremont, St Ann, charged with rape; Jahmala Vernon, 25, of Boscobel, St Mary, charged with robbery; Philipp Williams, 22, of Belfield, St Mary, charged with shooting with intent; Linton Bailey, 22 of Jacks River, St Mary, charged with shooting; Lashawn Davidson, 26, of Jacks River, St Mary, charged with shooting; Nolando Akenson, 21 of Pimento Walk, St Ann, and Boscobel, St Mary, charged with robbery.
A preliminary probe by the St Mary Divisional Intelligence Unit (DIU) suggested that the men had been planning the escape for some time.
According to a Gleaner source, a major search was conducted on December 17 in the cells at the station, including the cells of at least three of the escapees and various pieces of contraband were found, including cell phones, chargers, and lighters.
The Oracabessa lockup reportedly has an established capacity for 10 adult males, but was housing 17 adult male detainees at the time of the incident.
Plagued by jail breaks
The police have been plagued by a series of jail breaks over the past year, the previously most notable of which took place in June when eight other detainees escaped from the Black River police lockup in St Elizabeth.
The men had reportedly cut a metal bar at a window and escaped.
Following that incident, the Police High Command made a raft of management changes in St Elizabeth including the reassignment of then divisional commander Superintendent Kenneth Chin to Area Five Headquarters.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Coleridge Minto was then posted in the area as commander for the division.
Additionally, two JCF members were interdicted pending further inquiries.
Asked if similar changes will take place in St Mary, Lindsay said she was not aware of that as an investigation into the incident, being conducted by the Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau, is not yet completed.
“We have not gotten a report or an update yet as to what the findings are and if there are any reviews but, of course you know it comes right in the Christmas season when a lot of other things are being worked on. But, sooner or later, we will have an update for you,” she promised.
In the meantime, she reported that five of the eight detainees who had escaped in June from Black River were recaptured.
The police are asking anyone with information that could assist in locating the escapees to contact the Oracabessa police at 876-726-0698, Crime Stop at 311, the JCF tip line at 811, or the nearest police station.