Jamaica news roundup: highway biker crash, police deaths, St. Elizabeth family killing and CDF funding call

A motorcyclist was hospitalised after a crash on the North-South Highway near the Money toll exit on Sunday, while the Jamaica Constabulary Force is also mourning two members who died over the weekend.

The biker was reportedly travelling with a group when he hit a sign, bringing it down before his motorcycle caught fire. Police helped take him to Linstead Hospital in St. Catherine. His condition was not immediately disclosed.

The JCF deaths involved Constable Michael Francis of the Maroon Town Police Station in St. James and District Constable Nicholas McLean, 54, who served at the Constant Spring Police Station. Francis, also known as “Teddy Bear”, was found in his barracks shortly before 9 a.m. with a gunshot wound to the head. McLean died at Kingston Public Hospital on Saturday about 7:30 a.m. after being treated since last month for chronic heart disease.

Three Highway Patrol officers were also injured on Saturday evening when their service vehicle collided with a Toyota motor car along the Discovery Bay main road. The police personnel and occupants of the private vehicle were reportedly treated for minor injuries.

Senior Superintendent Aaron Samuels confirmed Francis’s death, while St. James Southern MP Nikisha Burchell said the young officer had become closely tied to Maroon Town during his service. Raymond Price, president of the United District Constables Association, said McLean’s death added to concern about the number of police officers passing away and the need for closer health monitoring.

Police also reported two murders, two decomposed bodies and a fatal crash over the previous two days. In St. Ann, 64-year-old Claude Thorpe was killed after being hit by a motor vehicle on the Ocho Rios main road. In Hanover, businessman Christopher Fraser, 64, was reportedly robbed of his licensed firearm by two armed men in Hopewell.

In St. Elizabeth, Superintendent Coleridge Minto urged residents to use the domestic violence intervention centre at the Santa Cruz Police Station after a deadly family dispute in Stevenson Town near Southfield. Police said a 19-year-old was taken into custody after allegedly chopping his two brothers and their 43-year-old mother shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday. Travis Williams died at the scene, while a 14-year-old sibling and the mother were hospitalised in critical condition.

St. Andrew Southwestern MP Dr. Angela Brown-Burke also renewed calls for the Constituency Development Fund allocation to be increased. She said the $20 million given annually to each of Jamaica’s 63 MPs has not kept pace with costs since 2012 and is too small for housing, welfare, training, emergency assistance and economic support needs.