Jamaica police shooting, FLA report row and fake-gun sentence dominate national news

A fatal police shooting in Granville, St James, has intensified scrutiny of law-enforcement conduct after 45-year-old Latoya “Buju” Bulgin was killed during a protest over the earlier police killing of her 17-year-old cousin, TJ Edwards. Viral CCTV showed officers removing her from a vehicle and placing her in a police pickup, prompting outrage from relatives, residents and public officials.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force High Command ordered the immediate interdiction of the officer involved and referred the case to its internal affairs arm and INDECOM. The oversight body has opened an independent probe and appealed for witnesses, including those in the vehicle with Bulgin, to come forward. INDECOM said none of the three officers on crowd-control duty was wearing a body camera. It also reported that security forces had fatally shot 132 people up to May 21, matching the figure for the same period last year.

In another case, Dne Watson has been charged with murdering his wife, Melissa Kerry Samnath, a Jamaican-American accountant from New York. Police said Samnath died from multiple blunt-force injuries after arriving in Jamaica for her birthday.

A Kingston music producer, Yuane Price, received 15 years and life imprisonment after eight imitation firearms were found at his home. He said they were video props. The sentence has fuelled criticism of the 2022 Firearms Act, with attorney Bert Samuels and Jamaicans for Justice arguing that the law removes too much judicial discretion.

Parliament also remained under pressure after the opposition walked out over the failure to table an Integrity Commission report concerning alleged corruption at the Firearm Licensing Authority. Government business leader Floyd Green denied suppression, saying the document was being withheld because of related court proceedings. Opposition Leader Mark Golding later threatened legal action if the report is not tabled.

Separately, Jamaica secured US$200 million in World Bank-backed parametric hurricane insurance ahead of the June 1 Atlantic season. The Met Service also warned that a developing El Nino could bring hotter, drier conditions, prompting activation of the National Drought Management Committee.