St James overshoots combined murder toll of other western parishes
Published:Saturday | May 21, 2022 | 12:05 AMHopeton Bucknor/ Gleaner Writer
A senior cop in St James has expressed alarm that the northwestern parish has seen at least 91 murders since the start of the year, more than the combined total homicides seen in Trelawny, Hanover, and Westmoreland – the other divisions in Area One.
On Wednesday, two more victims were slain in the parish – 31-year-old Kerry-Ann Dixon, otherwise called ‘Man Frame’ of Tucker Irwin, and 40-year-old Dwayne Russell, otherwise called ‘Samson’, a farmer of Spring Gardens in Kensington, both in St James.
Reports by the police are that about 5:45 p.m., residents of Retirement reported hearing loud explosions coming from a section of the roadway and went to investigate. They discovered Dixon’s body lying in a pool of blood along the roadway. There were gunshot wounds to her upper body.
The police were called to the scene and the body removed.
“Everybody love Man Frame. A just yesterday me an her a talk, an a pure joke she a give mi an a tell mi seh a full time mi fi get a husband,” one female community member told The Gleaner. “Everybody shock how dem just shoot her dung like a dog so ... . She was a very kind, loving, and jovial individual.”
Prior to Dixon’s death, a Kensington farmer on his way to his farm about 9:40 a.m. stumbled upon Russell’s body, lying in a pool of blood on his farm.
He raised an alarm, and the police were summoned. It was discovered that Dixon had been shot multiple times.
The murders push St James’ murder tally to 91 since the start of the year.
Comparatively, since the start of the year, Hanover has recorded 16 murders, Trelawny 17, and Westmoreland 49, which is a combined 82 murders – nine behind the St James total.
“St James is fast becoming the murder capital of Jamaica, if it has not yet earned that status,” a police investigator told The Gleaner, reflecting on the situation in the parish, which currently has two zones of special operations.
The senior cop said that the police were yet to make headway in a number of these murders, including the most recent killing of the woman and the farmer.