Joseph Winter charged in housebreaking case as JPS weighs underground power lines

Joseph Winter, 54, has been charged after police said a man was injured during a break-in at his home. The charges against Winter are housebreaking with intent, assault at common law, assault occasioning bodily harm and unlawful wounding.

Police from the Pen area reported that the complainant was asleep when Winter allegedly entered through a living-room window. Investigators say the two men later argued about several zinc sheets, and Winter is accused of beating the man with a stick, causing injuries that led to the loss of several teeth. He is also accused of holding a machete towards the complainant’s face before a neighbour stepped in. The report was made to police, Winter was arrested and charged, and his court date is being arranged.

Dr. Aggrey Irons, the well-known Jamaican psychiatrist and mental-health advocate, died on Saturday. Irons worked for years at Bellevue Hospital, Jamaica’s only stand-alone psychiatric institution. He previously led the Medical Association of Jamaica and chaired the Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control. During the 1990s, he also hosted a nightly health-advice programme on Radio Jamaica. Outside medicine, he performed with the 50/50 band, a group of professionals that often played at corporate fundraising events.

Police Commissioner Dr. Kevin Blake has urged members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force to show restraint in dealings with civilians following public anger over the fatal police shooting of Latoya Bullgin in Granville, St. James. Bullgin was shot while seated in her vehicle during an alleged dispute last Sunday. The policeman involved was removed from frontline duty after the high command reviewed CCTV footage. Blake, writing in the force orders, said officers must rely on professionalism, training, discipline, integrity, humility and sound judgement. INDECOM is investigating, and Commissioner Hugh Faulkner said the case is receiving top-level attention.

The Jamaica Public Service Company is considering a gradual move to place some transmission lines underground to reduce hurricane damage. Calls for that investment grew after Hurricane Melissa last year damaged the grid and left 77 per cent of customers without electricity. With the June 1 hurricane season approaching, JPS is still reconnecting a small number of customers in Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth. Senior vice-president Ricardo Case said broad undergrounding is not immediately practical because Jamaica’s terrain varies, making the work costly, disruptive and difficult. He said JPS is looking at selective undergrounding and parametric insurance to help fund future recovery.