NOT even men of the cloth have been spared the wrath of the criminal wave that has swept Jamaica during the past decade. Reverend Richard Johnson, rector at the St. Jude's Anglican Church in Stony Hill, St. Andrew, is the latest victim.

One man is being questioned in connection with Father Johnson's murder, but the police have made no breakthrough in the murders of Father Howard Rochester and Father Martin Royackers, who were killed in October 2000 and June 2001, respectively.

Father Rochester, who was rector at the St. Joseph's Cure Roman Catholic Church in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, was shot several times in the head on October 26, six years ago.

His body was discovered along the Hartlands main road in that parish.

Two men, Derval Thomas and Kevin Ellis, were arrested and charged with Father Rochester's murder. Ellis escaped while in custody in December 2004 while Thomas was found not guilty of the charge in February 2005.

Father Royackers, a Canadian who had lived in Jamaica since 1994, was shot in the rectory at the St. Theresa's Roman Catholic Church in Annotto Bay, St. Mary.

No one has ever been charged for his murder.

In April 1994, another Roman Catholic priest, Father Vincent Power, was found inside the St. Joseph's Church in Trelawny with his throat slashed. The police were yesterday unable to give an update on the progress they have made in investigating these murders.