Fisherman cleared in knife case, carpenter gets bail on air-gun charges, mayor questions road authority

A fisherman walked free from the St. Catherine Parish Court on Tuesday after he showed his fisherman's identification and told the court he carried a pocket knife to scale fish he had brought back from Pedro Keys.

When he first appeared, he wept as he entered a guilty plea with explanation. "Guilty with explanation, Your Honor," he said. "The day me just come back from Pedro Keys and have a igloo with fish selling. So, the knife was for scaling the fish them." After discussions involving the clerk of courts, Judge Desiree Alleyne dismissed the matter.

Police had arrested him on April 30 after seeing him in an argument with another man along Hellshire Beach in St. Catherine. A search turned up a small pocket knife, and he was later charged with possession of an offensive weapon.

In the Gun Court on Tuesday, St. Andrew carpenter Omar Cole, 48, was granted $150,000 bail on charges of possessing a prohibited weapon and unauthorised possession of ammunition. Police allege that during a pre-dawn operation on April 3 at two Bull Bay locations linked to Cole, they found an air pistol and 28 pellets in a barrel of assorted items, including chicken feed. His attorney, Javed Grant, argued Cole did not live where the items were found and was not there when they were recovered, and cited his client's record. Bail came with a stop order, surrender of travel documents, and reporting requirements. He is due back on July 14.

Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby told the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation on Tuesday that it is still unclear how the planned single road authority would ease chronic funding shortfalls for local government. Cabinet has approved a policy framework for the executive agency, which would set road standards islandwide and carry out works on national main roads, but municipal corporations have raised concerns about overlap with community roads. Swaby said limited public funds continue to stall repairs to parochial roads in poor condition.

In Manchester, five-year-old Jayana Clark escaped serious injury after falling into a manhole at New Forest Primary and Infant School on Monday while waiting for her bus. Her mother, Stacy-Ann Sinclair, said Jayana told her she stepped on the cover twice before it tilted and she fell in, then clung to the edge until a teacher helped pull her out. Sinclair said she took the child to a doctor that evening and was told she was fine, though the girl later had diarrhoea and vomiting. Principal Sharon Anderson said the infant-department manhole had been covered for more than 10 years and staff could not explain how it opened; contractors were called to seal it permanently.

Kadeem Reed, the fourth person charged in a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud affecting several financial institutions, was remanded until September 17 after appearing in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency said he was charged on April 29 under the Proceeds of Crime Act and with conspiracy to defraud. Co-accused are medical doctor Colwyn Dewey, 30, executive assistant Ivanna Campbell, 29, and Dwayne Peter, 44. All four are accused of operating a syndicate that allegedly used fraudulent and fake documents to defeat bank security between January 2023 and April 2024. Reed's attorney, Vincent Wellesley, signalled a bail application; filings are due by July 17, with the Crown's response by August 14 and disclosure on or before June 30, 2026.