Convictions dent Central Village, Old Harbour Bay gang activities
Published:Wednesday | August 7, 2024 | 12:07 AM
The St Catherine South Police Division says Sunday’s early morning raid in Tryall Heights culminated a month of success against criminal operatives in the parish.
The operation, in which the division joined forces with their Special Operation counterparts from St Catherine North and the Area Five Fugitive Apprehension Team, led to a shootout during which One Order gang member Zimroy ‘Zim’ Geddes and two other gunmen were killed.
Policing an expansive territory – stretching from Ferry, which borders St Andrew, encompassing Central Village, all of Portmore and as far as Old Harbour – the St Catherine South division said it had recorded two major convictions in the weeks leading up to Sunday’s gun battle in which three firearms were also seized.
Pointing to recent convictions in the Kingston Gun Court, which the division’s sources said “put a dent in the ability for gangs to wage war in the division”, the St Catherine South police hailed successful cases against Christopher ‘Cock Head Parchment and Mark ‘Foodie’ Jacobs.
Allegedly a primary member of Central Village’s China Town Gang and listed by the police as a person of interest in several murders in the area, Jacobs was found guilty on July 19 of shooting with intent by High Court judge Vaughn Smith. The offence, which took place on June 9, 2023, resulted in the death of another man known as ‘Creep’ and the confiscation of a handgun.
Jacobs, who was charged on July 4, 2023, for shooting at the police, as well as possession of a prohibited weapon and unauthorised ammunition, in the matter investigated by Jason McKay, is allegedly a major player in the China Town Gang’s extortion activities at the area’s taxi stand. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 10.
BATTLE WITH POLICE
“The China Town Gang has been engaged in a battle with the police in the area, resulting from an extortion racket at the taxi stand. Several lives have been lost in the conflict, including an off-duty policeman and a taxi operator, who refused the gang’s extortion attempts,” a St Catherine South source told The Gleaner.
Another alleged China Town gang member, Tawayne Watson, was convicted earlier this year for raping the same victim on two separate occasions.
“The victim claimed she was told by Watson that this was how her family would “pay rent” to live in the community,” added the police source, noting that the convictions have somewhat thwarted the gang’s activities.
Meanwhile, Parchment, an alleged gang leader in the Dagger Bay community of Old Harbour Bay, was convicted on July 31 by High Court Judge Lisa Palmer Hamilton for a 2020 shooting incident involving police personnel from the division’s Special Operations Unit.
The Old Harbour Bay community has been rocked by violence due to an ongoing conflict between gangs from Terminal Road and Dagger Bay, fighting over spoils from the drugs-for-guns trade afflicting coastal areas of the island.
Dozens of lives have been lost in the conflict to include gang members in combat with the police. However, Parchment, who was seriously wounded in the shooting incident with the police, was spared by the quick actions of the Special Operations team in transporting him to the hospital.
The case against Parchment, which dragged on for years due to the migration of the investigating officer, was finally adjudicated due to technological and legal changes in the judicial system, allowing witnesses to testify remotely. Parchment is to be sentenced on October 18 this year.