Noel Thompson, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Up to late yesterday evening, police in Westmoreland were combing sections of their division, and neighbouring parishes in search of two men who had escaped a dragnet in which two of their cronies were killed.
This followed an incident in which four men abducted a woman, and robbed and raped her, about 12:30 a.m. yesterday.
Reports reaching The Gleaner are that the woman, said to be employed to a hotel in Negril, left work at 12:30 Tuesday morning.
She was standing along the Norman Manley Boulevard conversing with someone on her mobile phone, and awaiting transportation, when a white Toyota Corolla station wagon registered PB 3299, with four men on board, pulled up alongside her.
One of the men alighted from the car, brandished a handgun and ordered the woman to get inside the car. Being hesitant to comply with the man's demand, she was forced into the car, which then sped off in the direction of Green Island in Hanover.
Robbed of cash
The men proceeded to rob the woman of cash amounting to $3,500, a gold chain and a gold watch. Police confirmed that at least one of the men sexually assaulted her.
While the woman was experiencing her ordeal, her friend was listening on the other end of the phone and summoned the Whithorn police in Westmoreland.
A search was launched and the car was spotted in an area known as Morass. It is said that the cops signalled the men to stop but they refused.
The men reportedly opened fire at them and a shoot-out ensued. Two of the gunmen were later found dead, while the other two escaped.
The dead men have been identified as 20-year-old painter Dane Wright and Jeffery Jones, 23, a taxi driver, both of Morass district near Hartford in Westmoreland.
One of the dead men was identified by the woman as the person who had raped her. Her jewellery, cellphone and cash amounting to over $5,000 were recovered from the vehicle.
The car is now at the Whithorn Police Station, but up to press time, no one had turned up to claim ownership.
