Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
A policeman guards the crime scene where the bodies of two men were found close to the Portmore Causeway yesterday, in the vicinity of the Zinc Factory in South St. Andrew. Police identified victims as Patrick Ramsay and Mark Anthony Yap Singh of Ocho Rios, St. Ann. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer
WHATEVER WAS the reason 25-year-old Mark Anthony Yap Singh and 40-year old Patrick Ramsay, 40, travelled from Ocho Rios on Sunday night, it would seem they had no idea that they would end up tortured, gagged and lying dead near the Portmore Causeway yesterday morning.
"It has a drug connection," Senior Superintendent Tony Hewitt theorised yesterday evening.
The bodies of the men were found near the Portmore Causeway, in the vicinity of Zinc Factory, Kingston. Their mouths were gagged with scotch tape and their hands bound with cord. The men had machete wounds to their heads.
Members of a police patrol discovered the bodies at about 5:30 a.m. yesterday. The lawmen's attention was drawn to a grey Toyota Starlet car registered 3205 DJ parked on the side of the road.
Reports are that music was still blaring from a sound system inside the vehicle when it was found. But, it was the trail of blood from the trunk of the car which led the police to the bodies. A pair of bloodstained leather gloves were found a chain away from the car.
The police theorised that the men were killed elsewhere and their bodies dumped near the Causeway. Senior investigators theorise that the deceased may have left Ocho Rios on a business trip which turned sour.
Yap Singh, his mother and sisters operate the Triple A Rent-a-Car Service in Ocho Rios. A former Jamaica College student, the police believe he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. It is alleged that he accompanied Ramsay to Kingston on the trip.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that Ramsay was deported to Jamaica about two years ago after spending five years in a Miami jail.
The police said last year one of Ramsay's friend, Stephen Gordon, was killed in similar fashion. His body was found in a car. Ramsay is from Content Gardens, St. Ann.
Allegations are that the two left Ocho Rios at about noon on Sunday for Kingston. One of the men's girlfriend said they were last seen about 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.
It is alleged when they did not return home after several hours on Sunday, a friend of Yap Singh called to find out where he was. He informed police sources that, from the way Ramsay answered, he suspected both men were in trouble.
Their deaths have pushed the number of persons killed violently in Jamaica since January to 292.
