Retired US soldier gets 22 years for Portland murder as FWCF calls for JUTC bus probe

A retired United States soldier received a 22-year prison term on Thursday, June 25, 2026, after admitting he murdered Portland mason Craig Senior in October 2022.

Emil Tracy, 48, of Pine Terasa, Florida, pleaded guilty before Justice Wilshire in the Portland Circuit Court to murder and illegal possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to 22 years for murder and eight years for the firearm offence, to run concurrently.

Senior, 43, was fatally shot on October 9, 2022, in the Hart Hill district of Portland. Investigators said he was at home when a motor vehicle arrived and someone called him outside. He was shot as the vehicle drove off westbound toward St. Mary. Tracy was later arrested and charged. Reports linked him to an intimate relationship with Senior's wife.

Few Children Foundation (FWCF) is pressing for a formal inquiry into a widely shared video showing an off-duty policewoman ordering a student off a Jamaica Urban Transit Company bus. The group says the student had already paid her fare and was removed without lawful or reasonable grounds.

Kayla Wright, FWCF consultant and attorney-at-law, said any substantiated case would raise serious questions about how public authority is used around children. FWCF wants the Jamaica Constabulary Force and JUTC to conduct a prompt, impartial review, stressing that a child's best interest must come first under Jamaican law and international child-rights standards.

In Portland, 28 Haitian nationals who entered Jamaica illegally on Monday were sent back to Haiti on Thursday night after processing by police, health officials, and immigration authorities. The group, intercepted near Pasley Gardens in three batches, included 21 men, four women, and three children. Police asked residents not to harbour undocumented migrants and to report strangers in their communities.

Separately, a correctional officer facing dismissal after a criminal conviction said he has gone months without salary while his appeal remains pending. The officer, who asked not to be named, was charged in July 2025 over a contraband matter at a penal institution. He pleaded guilty to ganja possession under a plea arrangement in the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court and received a two-year suspended sentence.

Following the conviction, the Public Service Commission recommended his dismissal under regulation 35 of the Public Service Regulations 1961. He said he received full pay from July to December 2025 but was taken off payroll by the end of January 2026 without a formal suspension letter. He told Real News Media TV: "My case is appealing and they have taken me off payroll and stopped my pay. They're not even paying my loans anymore, putting me in a bad credit."

The officer said his four-year-old daughter is now in state care after community members and police became involved. He also said repeated appeals to the Department of Correctional Services, his union, and the Ministry of Labour brought no answers. Real News Media TV said the correctional department had not responded up to publication time.