Parliament audit shows 1.8% of Melissa relief spent; judge blocks Crown phone-call line in McKay Clansman trial

Parliament heard Tuesday that the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, under the Office of the Prime Minister, had spent only a sliver of Hurricane Melissa relief cash by 23 February 2026. A Melissa real-time compliance audit tabled that day put receipts near J$1.44 billion from the Support Jamaica Initiative and other direct gifts, against roughly J$26 million—1.8 percent—disbursed for victims. It also cited J$138.8 million plus US$11,974 from hurricane-barrel cash lines unused. The Auditor General said the agency had not supplied totals collected and expended for a further storm the report labels hurricane burial. In an April 2026 reply, ODPEM blamed the lag on missing clearance from the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

Separately, the Crown halted its second witness in the trial of 25 accused linked to the alleged Tesha Miller arm of the Clansman gang over the robbery and murder of St Catherine man Zamari McKay. Justice Dale Palmer stopped the police constable mid-story on counts 28 and 29—where Carlos Williams, Germaine Clark, and Owen Billings are accused of helping rob and kill McKay—after the defence said prosecutors were leading the officer and skirting hearsay about McKay's last hours before his body was found on 11 August 2022, feet bound on a rubbish heap off the Leak Pen main road.

The witness had described being roused around 11 p.m. on 10 August 2022, filing a missing-person report in Spanish Town, and hearing McKay and an unfamiliar male during a call a woman handed him. Kimberly Whitaker told the court, "The crown is trying to disguise hearsay as background evidence." The assistant director of public prosecutions countered that the material was admissible and that the law did not demand a rundown of vocal quirks, while Deandra Buchanan pressed for tighter limits on proof tied to named individuals. Prosecutors told Justice Palmer the disputed call opened the sequence that ended in McKay's death, calling it "The conversation this witness had is essentially the first domino. What is said on the phone call creates the domino effect on this particular count."

Justice Palmer, sitting without a jury, said, "I believe a more foundation needs to be led at this time," noting no evidence yet that McKay was dead and no clarity on who held the line. He blocked the Crown's present line but said it could reapply, then let other witnesses advance while the constable waits behind two main Crown witnesses serving time on other counts. Before leaving the stand Tuesday the officer said Greater Portmore Police Station pointed the search toward McKay and that his next view of the man was lifeless; a sergeant said Monday he was first at the scene.