Two goat farmers murdered in Westmoreland
Published:Thursday | December 16, 2021 | 12:06 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Residents of Crowder district in Grange Hill, Westmoreland, are mourning the gruesome killing of two goat farmers whose mutilated bodies were found in bushes on Tuesday.
The deceased have been identified as 65-year-old Henry ‘Mas Hen’ Jones and 44-year-old Brian ‘Fowlie’ Chambers, both of Crowder.
It is reported that Jones and Chambers left home about 6:30 a.m. on Monday to tend to their animals at a property in Jacob Hill Mountain.
When the men did not return home, their relatives became concerned and launched a search without success.
Personnel attached to the Grange Hill Police Station joined in the search and the bodies, with chop and gunshot wounds, were discovered shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Family and friends of the deceased expressed shock at the brutal deaths.
Chambers’ mother, Hilda Wedderburn, struggled to compose herself as she sat at the entrance to her unfinished house weeping.
“Mi cah believe seh dem murder mi one boy pickney. A him a mi hand and mi foot,” wailed the elderly woman.
Wedderburn told The Gleaner that she, and not her son, was the main goat farmer in the family.
Her son volunteered to go to the farm Monday morning because Wedderburn was not feeling well.
Jones’ grandniece, who identified herself only as Nickesha, said he was well loved by everyone in his community.
He would have celebrated his 66th birthday on Wednesday.
Jones’ relative said that goat thieves regularly target Crowder as Christmas nears. She said several of Jones’ large rams were discovered missing after his death.
A senior police investigator told The Gleaner that praedial larceny is believed to be the motive behind the killings.