Jamaica roundup: murder charge in Old Harbour, Highgate killing, appeal ruling and child-rights complaints

A 36-year-old farmer from St. Catherine has been charged with murder after a bus driver was fatally attacked in Boyce Content district, Old Harbour, while police in St. Mary are also probing the shooting death of a 31-year-old man near the Highgate clock. The day’s developments also included an appeal court ruling overturning a murder conviction, a fire in Montego Bay that displaced eight people, and two matters involving the Fuy Children Foundation.

Police said Peter Fable, 36, of Free Marley, Boyce Content, was charged in connection with the killing of 33-year-old bus driver Marian Newuel of Drew Brown district, Boyce Content. Reports are that about 10 p.m. on July 1, Fable armed himself with a pitchfork, approached Newuel and reportedly told him he had something to give him before stabbing him several times in the chest and face. Investigators said Newuel, who was taken to May Pen Hospital, later died. Fable was held during a police operation, arrested on suspicion of murder and formally charged on July 2 after a question-and-answer session.

In Highgate, St. Mary, 31-year-old TK Nidam, otherwise called Runus, of Cromwell Land, was shot dead about 7 p.m. on Thursday while standing at a plaza near the clock. Police said a man dressed in dark clothing approached, opened fire and hit him several times in the upper body before escaping on foot into a nearby housing scheme. Nidam was taken to Port Maria Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The St. Mary Crime Investigation Bureau is investigating.

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday overturned the murder conviction of auto mechanic Kenneth Puttinger, who had been serving a life sentence for the February 12, 208 killing of Deo Powell along St. John’s Road in Spanish Town. Puttinger was convicted in September 2019 and sentenced in January 2020 to life imprisonment, with 23 years to be served before parole eligibility. On appeal, attorney Samoy Campbell argued that the identification evidence and the judge’s directions to the jury created material problems. The appeal panel of Justice Marva McDonald Bishop, Justice Nicole Simmons and Justice Marcia Dunbar Green allowed the appeal, with written reasons to come.

In Montego Bay, three board dwellings on Love Lane were destroyed by fire shortly before 8 a.m. on Friday, leaving two children, five men and one woman homeless. The Jamaica Fire Brigade said it was alerted at 7:45 a.m. and three units from the Montego Bay station contained the blaze to the affected buildings. Investigators are to determine the cause.

The Fuy Children Foundation has also complained to the Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau about a viral incident in the corporate area in which a plain-clothes policewoman allegedly instructed a student to leave a Jamaica Urban Transit Company bus after an altercation with an adult male passenger. Separately, the group is calling for the immediate resignation of Ascot Primary principal Marco Jackson over reports that some grade six students were barred from wearing graduation gowns based on their PEP scores. Youth policy committee chair Sabrina Barnes said, "The public humiliation of children has no place in Jamaica's education system."