Portmore taxi driver shot dead as Trelawny mourns slain child; cops docked pay

Police are hunting a gunman who killed a Portmore taxi operator, while a Trelawny family mourns the sexual assault and murder of a 10-year-old girl. Investigators are also examining a fatal house fire in St. Catherine, and several Jamaica Constabulary Force members have been docked pay after misconduct findings.

Andrew McKenzie, 36, of Watson Grove, Portmore, was shot and killed near the Portmore Mall in St. Catherine. Police said that about 9:30 p.m., McKenzie was standing with others on Dawkins Drive when a man armed with a handgun approached and opened fire, striking him in the head before fleeing. Officers found McKenzie, dressed in black, lying in a pool of blood at a bus bay. No motive has been established. The Portmore CIB is investigating.

In Troy district, Trelawny, Ashton Coke is grieving his daughter Shanique Coke, 10, affectionately called Kadra, who was sexually assaulted and murdered on Tuesday. Her partially nude body was found on a dirt track in bushes with her throat slashed. Ashton Junior Coke said she left home about 3:00 p.m. to go to a nearby grocery shop and never returned. When she failed to come home, her grandmother alerted residents and a community search ended with the discovery of the child's body.

Hours after the body was found, a mob fatally beat a man identified as Delroy Coke. His father, Maxwell Coke, was also assaulted and admitted to hospital. Police have not said anyone witnessed Delroy committing the sexual attack on Shanique. They disclosed he was a convicted sexual offender who had previously served time, with arrests dating back more than a decade. A man has since been taken into custody in connection with the mob killing.

Ashton Coke said Delroy had numerous run-ins with the law and was consistently shielded by his father. Speaking as the father of the deceased, he said his daughter lived in Troy district in the neighbourhood of Tyre Wood, that her grandmother sent her to the shop, and that searchers found her slaughtered and raped. He said Maxwell defended his son until the son eventually admitted he had done it. During a visit with the media on Wednesday, Ashton recalled last seeing his daughter at his Troy home the previous Saturday.

Shanique's aunt, Shauna Williams Stevens, said the death has traumatised the entire family. "We can't sleep. We can't sleep, you know. It's traumatizing," she said.

Child Protection and Family Services Agency chief executive officer Lauret Adams-Thomas said the agency is horrified by the incident and stands with the child's family and the wider community. "There are simply no words that can lessen the pain of this tragedy. This 10-year-old child should have been given the opportunity to fulfill her dreams," she said, adding that society cannot accept such violence as normal. The education ministry also expressed condolences to the family.

In Newton, St. Catherine, police are investigating the death of farmer Winston Thomas after his charred remains were found following a fire at a dwelling on Coghill Road about 4:00 p.m. on July 21. Firefighters discovered the body during cooling-down operations. The cause of the fire and the circumstances of his death are under investigation.

Separately, force orders published over the past two weeks show several officers docked between 10 days' pay and a quarter of their salaries for periods of one to four months. A court of inquiry found that a corporal and a constable assigned to the Kingston Central Police Division, through negligence, allowed accused killer Raymond Boxer Shaw to escape the Kingston Central lockup about 5:30 a.m. on October 6, 2022. Shaw was facing two murder counts in the shooting deaths of Wilford Street O'Connor, 59, and Clinton Money Davis, 60. Sources said he was let out to shower and was missing within an hour; investigators found an opening cut near his cell. He was shot and killed by security forces in August Town, St. Andrew, two days later. The reprimand remains on the officers' records and can affect promotion or re-enlistment.

A senior law enforcement officer who asked not to be named said overcrowding and understaffing at lockups are chronic and expressed surprise at the outcome. Another inquiry found a Ports Division corporal unprofessional when he told the German ambassador to Jamaica that he did not care who he was, during an interaction at Norman Manley International Airport about 9:45 p.m. on October 2, 2023 involving the diplomat's driver, and failed to give his name when asked. That officer was docked a quarter of his salary for one month.

A woman corporal was docked a quarter of her salary for four months after failing to account for a civilian firearm and 20 rounds handed over when she took station duty at Elleston Road Police Station in July 2019, and failing to report the missing weapon and ammunition. A Detention and Court Division corporal was docked a quarter of his salary for two months for failing to report contraband found in a bathroom at Horizon Remand Centre in May 2021 and for trying to evade a search at a prison checkpoint.