WESTERN BUREAU:
THE MAN accused of hacking a little girl to death in Westmoreland is to appear in the Savanna-la-Mar Resident Magistrate's Court tomorrow, to answer a charge of murder.
The accused, 29-year-old Lance Rowe, taxi operator of Amity district in Westmoreland, has been in the custody of the Westmoreland police since August. He was picked up in Montego Bay, by members of the St. James police, a few days following the murder incident and, subsequently, turned over to the Westmoreland police.
Reports are that on the night of August 14, Rowe allegedly slashed 10-year-old Kimberley Jackson's throat, while she was asleep. The hacking incident reportedly took place after a dispute developed between himself and the child's mother at the mother's home in Broughton.
Meanwhile, in another western parish, the police are yet to make a breakthrough in this week's gruesome murder of a teenaged girl in St. Elizabeth. A suspect has, however, been taken into custody by the police in connection with the incident.
Corporal Angella Williams, CCN liaison officer, told The Gleaner that investigations by the Malvern police are continuing into the circumstances surrounding Lattisha's death but, to date, no charge has yet been laid against the suspect.
Reports are that at about 9 a.m. on Sunday, young Lattisha left home to visit her grandmother in a nearby district. When she did not return by a reasonable time, a search was launched. At about 4 p.m., Lattisha's nude body/ was found in bushes in the community.
The police theorise that Lattisha was sexually assaulted before being killed. She was a student at Lacovia Comprehen-sive High school.
Also on the crime scene, in St. Elizabeth, 46-year-old Lloyd July, who is accused of chopping his common-law wife to death, will go before the St. Elizabeth Circuit Court on November 18. July was refused bail on all the previous occasions he appeared in court.
The case stems from an incident on May 14, when 46-year-old, Erna Elliot, who was once the 'live-in companion' of July, reportedly returned to the house they had shared, at Belview Mountain near Southfield, St. Elizabeth. A dispute developed between Elliot and her common-law-husband. She was later found in a room in the house with multiple machete wounds all over her body. The police arrested July in connection with the incident.
Since the start of the year, there have been some 26 murders in Westmoreland and 14 murders in St. Elizabeth, the majority of which have been domestic disputes. The murder tally islandwide now stands at 825, with 29% being domestic murders.
