By Adrian Frater, News EditorWESTERN BUREAU:
THE LURE of night bathing at the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) public beach, in Montego Bay, is now becoming a dangerous pastime as within the past week, at least three unsuspecting females have been savagely attacked and raped by sexual predators.
"We are aware of the situation and we have put measures in place to increase security on the beach," said Senior Superinten-dent John Morris, the crime chief for Area One, which includes St. James. "It is probably too early to make a proper assessment but there have been no new cases since the measures have been put in place."
According to a well-placed police source, the rapists, said to be mostly young men armed with knives, generally pounced on couples, who are either relaxing on the beach or swimming. They relieve the men of their cash and valuables and then force them to watch as their female companions are sexually assaulted.
VICIOUS ORDEALS
"Some of the rapists are quite weird as they perform both vaginal and anal sex on the women," said a police source, who revealed that the vicious ordeals often leave the victims badly traumatised. "These guys are callous monsters who revel in brutalising their victims."
Based on the statistics from the Constabulary Communications Network, sexual predators have been quite active in St. James since the start of this year. To date they have been 42 reported cases of rape and 17 cases of carnal abuse in the parish. That number is somewhat similar to the 48 cases of rape and eight carnal abuse reported over the corresponding period last year.
SURVEILLANCE
While not disclosing the specific methods that are being used in their bid to apprehend these rapists, who are said to be operating in small teams, SSP Morris told The Gleaner that since they stepped up surveillance, there have been no new cases of anyone being raped.
Sexual predators operating on the UDC beach is nothing new although it had declined significantly in recent years. In 1999, the St. James police all but declared the beach out of bounds at night, as a mask-wearing serial rapist, who sometimes surfaced during the daylight hours, raped and robbed with impunity.
The serial rapist was eventually caught and arrested. He was subsequently convicted on some 10 counts of rape and sent to prison. Efforts to ascertain if he has since been released have proved futile.
