RESIDENTS OF the normally quiet, upscale community of Sullivan Avenue, off Red Hills Road in St. Andrew, were stunned yesterday by the murder of two men, whose bodies were dumped in the area.
Up to late yesterday the police were unable to identify the bodies, but they say this is the 52nd reported case of double murder in Jamaica since January.
"We believe the men were killed elsewhere and their bodies dumped there," said Superintendent Assan Thompson, the commanding officer for the St. Andrew North Police Division.
Reports are that the victims, who appeared to be in their 20s, were beaten and tortured before they were killed. According to the police, the bodies were discovered in an open lot at about 7:00 a.m. The hands and feet were bound and their mouths gagged. The bodies were wrapped in a white sheet.
Yesterday's killings have pushed the country's homicide rate to over 1,153 since the start of the year. This is 183 more murders than the number committed during the corresponding period last year.
28 MURDERED IN PAST WEEK
Meanwhile, police statistics have revealed that at least 28 persons have been murdered over the past week.
Among the victims was one of two women shot by gunmen along Galloway Road, off Maxfield Avenue, Kingston 13. Dead is Trisha Rodney, 31, while her 31-year-old friend has been hospitalised in a stable condition. According to the police, both women were sitting at their gate when a motor car with two men aboard drove up; the men opened fire, hitting them. The police have linked the shooting to a long-standing feud between factions in the area.
- Glenroy Sinclair
