Judge urges tighter trial focus as NEPA tracks St Elizabeth capuchins and Portmore rebuts school-fence claim

Justice Dale Palmer, who is hearing the gang case against Tesa Miller and twenty-four co-accused, has asked lawyers on both sides to work from a tighter list of live issues and to put agreed facts on the record so the court is not tied up proving matters everyone accepts. Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, he noted the prosecution has so far led evidence from fifty of the more than one hundred witnesses it plans to call. He welcomed progress through the witness list but said the hours absorbed in testimony suggested the matter should be further advanced. Where death is not contested, he said, neither side should spend days proving it, nor should routine steps such as sending ballistic material to a laboratory become prolonged exercises. He contrasted an eighteen-month timetable with what he said could be seven months, five months, or about six months, adding that even half a year is a long stretch, especially with a heavy court backlog. He floated the idea of Crown and defence settling certain points to shorten the hearing and zero in on what is truly disputed, stressing he was not playing down the gravity of the charges while insisting the case could still finish sooner. He praised earlier agreements between the parties and said that, after hearing some witnesses, he could not see why more could not have been dealt with by consent given the limited cross-examination and objections that had arisen. He suggested additional facts might also be agreed.

The One Don gang trial, which ended in October 2023, is widely described as the largest gang prosecution in the Caribbean; it ran more than two years and involved thirty-three defendants.

Separately, the National Environment and Planning Agency says teams and partner bodies are still trying to locate and safely capture non-native white-faced capuchin monkeys reported in parts of St Elizabeth. Despite repeated coordinated attempts with technical staff and community help, none of the animals has been secured. In a bulletin, NEPA asked people to report the freshest locations where monkeys have been seen, saying those details are vital for mapping movement, picking search areas, and planning capture work with local partners. The agency warned people not to approach, feed, handle, chase, or try to trap the animals, which can turn aggressive if stressed and may carry germs dangerous to humans, livestock, pets, and wild species. It restated that bringing in alien species threatens Jamaica’s ecosystems and native wildlife, including endemic birds and reptiles that have never evolved alongside primates, and can harm crops and nesting birds. NEPA also wants leads on people and places tied to unlawful import, keeping, or sale of exotic pets, citing worry that rising demand for unusual animals feeds illegal wildlife traffic and new invasions. It plans targeted outreach to spell out environmental, legal, and health risks from smuggling and private possession of exotics.

In St Catherine, the Portmore Municipal Council has pushed back sharply at Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, minister of education, youth and information, after she pointed to an alleged eighteen-month approvals delay for a perimeter fence at Naggo Head Primary as an example of red tape during last Friday’s debate on legislation to create a national reconstruction and resilience authority. She showed a building permit to illustrate bureaucratic drag. Mayor Leon Thomas, addressing the municipal corporation’s general meeting yesterday, demanded an apology to the council and Portmore residents, declaring, “Get your facts straight.” He said nothing blocked the school from building once a NEPA no-objection arrived, and that formal clearance came more than a month ago. He attributed earlier friction to an access dispute between the school and a church holding leased land from the National Land Agency, now settled so the church keeps an agreed entry point under a Ministry of Education arrangement. Pentecostal City Mission Church had publicly accused the school of erecting a wall without talks, hemming in the building; South Borista Church said in February last year that fencing began without consultation, cutting off access. Deputy Mayor Alri Campbell, who chaired the meeting that issued a stop order after part of the fence breached rules, said the council helped broker a fix well inside the eighteen-month window the minister cited. “We were able to assist in this settlement. At the end of the day, the school will have its perimeter fence and the church will have a lease,” he said. He noted a full fee waiver from the municipality for the education ministry. Councillor Finley Douglas said it was unfortunate the minister had not corrected a “falsehood” aired in the Senate more than a week earlier, adding that the school first built without council approval. Douglas listed a first NEPA no-objection in November 2024, the council’s letter on 31 March 2025, and the ministry’s on 1 May 2025, and called the eighteen-month narrative inaccurate, urging a retraction.