Situated at the corner of Rose and Lewis Streets in the Westmoreland capital, the over 8,000 square feet two story building which will serve as the group’s headquarters, will be known as the Royale Pharmacy & Wellness Centre. It will complement the location at the Western Shopping Centre at the corner of Great George Street which fills prescriptions and sells gift items and the location at the Royale Medical Centre Hospital and Clinic, which also provides professional pharmacy equipment and accessories.

“Because it is a Wellness Centre our mission is to keep persons healthy using preventative and alternative measures, including herbals,” explained Carol Muschette who owns and operates the business with her husband Dwight.

As a means of countering “stress” which she identifies as “one of the major causes of illnesses”, the mother of three said they now have a Diabetic Educator, Nutritionist and Massage Therapist available by appointment at the Wellness Centre.

They also provide clinical services such as, free blood pressure checks, blood sugar, hemoglobinA1C, cholesterol and pregnancy tests and ionizer detox. The Centre also sells home care products and gift items.

Some fifteen organisations and agencies participated in a massive health fair to mark the official opening two Saturdays ago. The fair was visited by over 500 individuals who in addition to complimentary confectionery, condoms and medical supplies, received free counselling and cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, diabetes, and HIV tests. Children were also immunised.

“We could not have done it without them, especially the sponsorship in cash and staff assistance from main sponsors HD Hopwood (Carlisle Laboratories and Denkhaima), Cari-Mad and Lasco Distributors,” said a beaming Muschette.

Other highlights of the day included performances by the host accompanied by her nine-year-old son Dwight Jordon on guitar and 2006 Gospel Festival Song winner, Clive Warren. The Blue Machine provided recorded music throughout the day, while patrons who tuned in to Vybz 96.3FM and Linkz 96FM also participated by way of live broadcasts.

[Observer Western]

Their brothers, Tasman, 13 and David, 6, were admitted to the Savanna-la-mar Hospital for treatment. David was released earlier this week, but Tasman is still in.

” I went to the NIS office but me no get any help yet. Me need assistance to cover the funeral costs because I am not able to manage everything,” lamented a distressed Hanson who works at the Hampden Estate, Trelawny, and lives away from family in Dumfries, St James, visiting them on fortnightly basis.

In a quick response, Dr Wykeham McNeil, Western Westmoreland MP promised to do everything possible for his bereaved constituents.

McNeil explained that he has instructed Councillor for the Friendship Division, Edwin Allwood-who was in contact with the father of the deceased - who was at work on the Frome Sugar Estate where he has been employed for a number of years when the deadly meal was prepared -to find out what can be done for the family.

Meanwhile, during a telephone interview McNeil guaranteed he would today “pass by and finalise with parents to see what we can do”.

Three years ago the Town Head community was thrust into national focus after two little girls, Shanna Kay Legister, nine, and Sheneka Shakes, eight, were found murdered inside canefields near their school, a day after they were reported missing.

[Observer Western]

Clayton’s body was found along the Bloody Bay Main Road, Hanover, by family members and friends last Thursday afternoon. They had launched a search for her after she went missing on Tuesday December 2.

A Constabulary Communications Network press release detailed that at about 4 p.m., relatives and residents who were searching for Clayton, found her body in bushes along the Bloody Bay Main Road and called the police. Investigators who arrived found Ms. Clayton’s body with multiple knife and machete wounds. The crime scene was processed and the body removed to the morgue for post mortem.

Her distraught brother, Havon Clayton told the Western Mirror that she left work at about 10 p.m. Tuesday and was supposed to have gone by her boyfriend’s house in Orange Bay, Hanover, he said the boyfriend called her shortly after she had left her workplace and was told by her that she would soon arrive at the house. She never showed up. The following day at about 5 p.m. friends called her workplace and were told she never arrived for work. Their suspicion was aroused and a decision was taken to report the matter to the Negril Police as calls to her mobile phone also went unanswered.

“I can’t tell you what happened except that right now she dead; and is not seh dem just kill her. De man dem do her really bad,” he said sadly. “We were very close, she was my favourite sister,” he added.

Friends and relatives described her as an “easy going, fun loving person who was not afraid of telling you how she really felt.”

But in the midst of the family’s pain, several members of the family have labeled the police as lazy and carefree. He said when the missing report was first made the police did not act fast enough to suggest they were serious about the matter. He listed several faults found with how the police handled the matter.

“They never acted quickly enough even though somebody find her hand bag; them too lazy man and if dem was just a little more serious about dem work maybe, maybe, Lorian would still be alive,” he cried.

It is alleged that a used condom was found at the scene and that the deceased was brutalized before being killed. Another relative who said he was in the search party said it appeared as if she may have been raped. That theory, however, has not been verified. The body, when found, according to the relative was naked and had its throat slashed and several other cut marks all over it.

“Them slaughter me sister like animal for what? What she could do to cause this?” Her brother asked. “Yes she was a pretty girl but dat alone cannot cause a man to do that,” he said.

In the meantime, Clayton’s friends are calling on the police to do all in their power to find her killer(s). “She deserves to rest in peace because she was a decent woman; so we begging the police to search diligently for the killer so that we can put this horrible thing behind us.”

Sherda died in Hospital Thursday, while Jevaughn died Saturday morning. The other two children, one 12 years old and the other 6, are now hospitalised in serious condition. Mr. Hanson, who refused to visit the hospital despite intensive vomiting was taken to the hospital by the police and admitted on Saturday morning. Residents claim that the family had eaten a meal of ackee and tinned mackerel with white rice before they became ill. There are also allegations that the father had drank some roots drink and given some to the children. Autopsies are to be conducted on the bodies of the two children on
Wednesday.

“What this country needs is a new plan of action and that plan of action should be based on prayer and fasting,” Rev. Waite said. “We have tried every other option and have failed most miserably. Now is the time to find another way; we need God on our side.”

Young Christopher was abducted as he made his way from the Petersfield High School on his bicycle earlier in this month. It is believed that he may have been sexually assaulted before having his head bashed in by his abductors. His death has sparked a dramatic increase in demands for new methods in dealing with criminals with many conservative voices calling for the resumption of hanging and stronger legislation against persons who prey on children.

However, Rev. Waite urged the fully-packed Torrington Wesleyan Holiness Church to leave all judgment and retribution to God. He advised the congregation to assist the police in their investigations but cautioned likewise that in spite of anger, “vengeance should be left to God.”

His moving sermon had the entire congregation at times screaming and shouting in the Holy Spirit. So moving was his presentation that even school boys could not hide their emotions as tears ran down their cheeks.

“He was a good friend of mine. Him nuh talk nuff, but him kind and nice,” said one Petersfield High student, glancing at the funeral programme bearing a photo of Christopher in happier times.

Tribute after tribute had one underlying point - “Christopher was very quiet and humble.” From the representative of the Ministry of Education, to the Principal of his school, Eugenie Spencer and many others including a letter sent as far away as Canada paid homage to the short life but great “legacy” of the teenager who had come to know simply as Chris.

Ketura Bennett’s anguished cries and uncontrollable sobbing for her son summed up the mood of the day. When the eulogy was being read by Sharon Suckra (cousin) Miss Bennett’s groaning became louder as she tried in vain to stop the sobbing. She had to be comforted on several occasions as she sat staring at her son’s coffin as if still in denial, wiping away an occasional tear as the tributes flowed.

Meanwhile, turning his attention to the state of the society, Rev. Waite said that parents should take all steps to protect their children as there is an ongoing spiritual war in which children and women are targets of persons who see it fit to prey on the weak in the society.

“Parents are not even sure what will happen to their children when they say goodbye anymore. So it doesn’t matter the amount of prisons being built, unless the people pray we will not get out of this problem,” he said.

Interment was at the family plot in Little Bridge, St. Elizabeth.

The man, 21 year-old Kumar Russell otherwise called ‘Sucky Bull’ was said to be terrorizing the community since his release from prison after serving a two year sentence for molesting a nine year-old boy. Since rejoining society, he has reportedly been on a rampage, breaking into neighbour’s houses and inflicting wounds on anyone who opposed him, including his father.

The older Russell told the Western Mirror that he has been displaying tendencies that suggest that he was at odds with society from an early age and even detailed an attack on his person by his only son.

“That bwoy deh? Him evil man; from him was about nine years old him start behave a way like seh him nuh business with nothing. Him rape, steal and even abuse me,” the father said. “Everybody glad that him gone and me glad to,” the relieved sounding elder Russell said.

“Him use a stone and slap me on me foot almost broke it, all because him want to take away me machete and me resist him; dat bwoy deserve what him get man,” said the senior Mr. Russell.

A Constabulary Communications Network (CCN) release stated that at about 4:45 a.m., Russell broke into a shop in the community. The proprietor raised an alarm and residents converged at the establishment. Russell tried to escape but was held by the mob which beat and chopped him several times. He died on the spot.

However, in his absence Cleveland Russell said he and the entire community were breathing a sigh of relief “because him nuh deh yah fe molest de youths dem and to steal people things”.

On October 26, Russell allegedly broke into a neighbour’s house while the man was in bed with his wife; he then attacked the man hitting him over the head before stealing $37,000 from the couple before running away. The matter was reported to the police.

Now the community can be at peace, according to one woman. “We feel much better now that him dead gone because that bwoy was as wicked as they could get. Not even him own father sorry for him,” she said.

In the meantime, a source at the Savanna-la-Mar Police Station disclosed that investigations were underway to ascertain whether or not ‘Sucky Bull’ was involved in the assault and murder of 13 year-old Christopher Suckra, whose naked body was discovered in cane fields in October, after the teen had gone missing while on his way home from school.

The source is refuting claims made in a television report that suggested Russell was in any way involved in the 2006 murder of Shericka Shakes and Shauna-Kay Ledgister, who were found dead. It appeared the girls had been raped then killed.

“We are dismissing the notion as brought to the public by another media house that he (Russell) had anything to do with the murder of these two girls. But the police were in fact carrying out investigations, up to the time of his death, into whether or not he might have been involved in the Suckra case,” the police source said.

Pastor Kevin Waite of the Bambury Weslyian Holiness Church on Sunday blasted the Frome division of the Sugar Estate of Jamaica, for their handling of the abandoned farm house buildings suspected of providing a sanctuary for the murderer of 11-year-old Christopher Levi Suckra.

Suckra, who used to be a grade 7 student of the Petersfield High School, was discovered naked and mutilated in a canefield in Bambury last week.

It is suspected that his attacker buggered him.
According to the boy’s mother, Keturah Bennett, a man who appeared to be of unsound mind had run out at her from an abandoned sugar estate farm house near to where the boy’s corpse was discovered, the day before. However she managed to pedal to safety on her bicycle.

“We need to appeal to the relevant authorities to do something about them (dilapidated farm houses). We know that these premises are owned by the Sugar Company of Jamaica- Frome to be exact. And they are not being used for years now and canefields both sides of the road-it is really something to contend with,” said Waite.

Pastor Waite said that from information gleaned, clothes and items “to indicate that some cooking was going on” were found in the ruined farm house that Suckra’s attacker suspectedly occupied.

He advised the congregation to exercise caution on their way through the canefields.

“We are very saddened about what happened to one of our own but we must leave everything in the hands of God. I know that some of you are afraid to walk through some of those canefields but I want to appeal to you whenever you are going don’t go alone try to get a group of you to go because we have to be very careful,” he said. Sukra and his family who used to attend the church religiously were conspicuously absent on Sunday.

However the church went to vist them after the service.
Meanwhile, efforts to reach Sugar Company of Jamaica vice-president Aston Smith have proved unsuccessful.
Telephone calls to Frome estate revealed that he would not be in for the day.

Calls to his cellular phone went to his voicemail.

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, in her contribution to the debate yesterday, said if Parliament votes to retain the death penalty, the gallows must be left to rust.

“If the vote is to retain the death penalty, I would like to suggest that we discard hanging as the method of carrying out the penalty,” Simpson Miller said.

Law should be amended

Audley Shaw, the member of parliament (MP) for North East Manchester, moved to appease persons offended by the grotesque nature of the sentence of “being hanged by the neck until you are dead”. He suggested the law be amended to include death by lethal inject or death by electric chair.

Government members Michael Stern and Dr St Aubyn Bartlett agreed that Parliament must amend the law to reflect the changes proposed by Shaw.

Whatever form the death penalty takes, Bartlett is ready to put murderers to death.

“I will accept the job as the hangman or the doctor who will pump the lethal injection,” he declared.

Most support death penalty

Contributions made by MPs during the debate over the retention of the death penalty, which began last week in the House of Representatives, suggest most members are ready to give a lifeline to the irreversible punishment.

The vote will take place today after Prime Minister Bruce Golding closes the debate.

Roger Clarke, the Central Westmoreland MP, said his constituents had given him a wide range of recommendations on how convicted murderers should be put to death.

Among the methods Clarke shared with the House were putting the guilty before firing squads, drowning them and dropping them from aircraft.

Phillips against death

However, former National Security Minister Dr Peter Phillips indicated he would vote for Jamaica to abolish the death penalty.

Phillips said the death penalty was not the answer to Jamaica’s crime problem. Jamaica, he said, has always responded with the strongest possible punishment to violence, yet crime continues to trend upwards.

“The severity of the punishment is not in and of itself a deterrent,” Phillips argued. He said certainty of punishment was the best deterrent to crime but warned against using the death penalty.

Phillips called for more social intervention as a means of preventing persons from getting caught up in crime.

Simpson Miller did not give her position on the motion, but noted that Parliament “must be bold in the position we take and, in the end, move in a direction that is required for the attainment of justice for all our people”.

More than 1,400 people have already been murdered in Jamaica this year.

Rural area MPs Robert Montague, Ian Hayles, Michael Stern, Roger Clarke, Dr Morais Guy, Audley Shaw and Franklyn Witter were strident as they argued for the retention of capital punishment.

“We want to live a long life, we want to breathe again. Crime has locked our society in a prison,” Montague said.

He referred to life imprisonment as “a minimum wage” and charged that this must not be the reward.

The body of a first form Petersfield High School male student was found in a canefield in his community of Blue Castle, Westmoreland this morning.

Christopher Suckra, 11, reportedly left home for school around 10 a.m. yesterday on his pedal cycle.

When he did not return in the afternoon, his mother reportedly made enquiries and was told by his friends that Christopher did not attend school that day.

Members of the community launched a search for him, which led to the discovery of his nude body in the canefield around 1.30 a.m.

Investigators said there were chop and stab wounds to the boy’s head and chest and they also believe that he was sexually abused.

Christopher’s bicycle was also found near the location of his body along with pieces of his clothing.

Meanwhile, the staff and students at the Petersfield High School are now trying to deal with the gruesome death of the first form student.

Principal Eugenie Spence said attempts have been made to console students some of whom have expressed fear following the incident.

Mrs. Spence said the school’s administration would continue to have safety seminars in a bid to help the students to protect themselves from attacks.

The recently renovated football field at the Frome Sports Club is undergoing additional repairs following substantial damage it received over the past two weeks.

Just about four weeks after it was reopened after a nearly two-year closure for repairs, continuous heavy rains, as several games - including an ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta cup double-header last Wednesday, a Digicel Premier League (DPL) game between Reno and Rivoli on Sunday and another daCosta Cup game between Cornwall College and Grange Hill on Monday - forced the owners to effect emergency repairs.

The Frome area has received a lot of rainfall in the last two weeks, and this has left the field waterlogged and muddy in parts with depressions as deep as three inches in some parts.

There appear to be problems with the drainage as well, as water has also collected along both sidelines.

Ransford Malcolm, president of Reno, who returned to playing home games in the DPL at Frome last month on October 12, told the Observer West that work started on Tuesday morning following an inspection of the field the day before.

Malcolm said the plan was to patch out the worst-affected parts of the field and hopefully they would be able to roll it with a light roller by today if the rains stayed away.

Reno will not play a home game at Frome until the end of the month but several schoolboy football games are expected to be played on the field.