St. Catherine attorney warned after court outburst as NRSC pushes road safety and opposition presses toll transparency

Three major developments marked Jamaica’s news cycle on Friday, July 17, 2026: a St. Catherine Parish Court contempt scare, a deadly Trelawny highway crash that drew renewed road-safety warnings, and an opposition challenge over toll increases and plaza expansion plans.

In St. Catherine, attorney Denise Walker was released with a warning after Acting Senior Parish Court Judge Janelle Nelson-Gail ordered her into custody over disruptive behaviour the judge said bordered on contempt. The dispute began when Walker learned a matter involving her client had been steered to mediation. She objected that the complainant was absent and that the case concerned siblings, urging that the complainant be summoned so the issue could be dealt with immediately. The judge cautioned her, then directed her to leave after she kept insisting the complainant be called, saying, "Officer, call the complainant now. Please call her." Walker later re-entered and declared, "I am paid to represent him," prompting the judge to have police take her into custody. Officers restrained her outside, brought her back into court, then moved her to the holding cells. After her release she apologised and expressed remorse; colleagues who spoke for her thanked the judge.

Separately, National Road Safety Council chairman Dr. Lucien Jones renewed calls for urgent national action after a crash at B Gate in Falmouth, Trelawny, shortly after 8:00 a.m. Friday. A minibus and a motor truck collided; preliminary police accounts initially put the toll at six dead and two seriously hurt, with a seventh person later dying in hospital. At least one victim has been named: 23-year-old Theodor Hudson of Tower Hill. Firefighters from the Falmouth Fire Station freed people trapped in the wreckage. Jones said the disaster lifted the year’s road death count and followed a sharp rise in fatalities since June, despite mid-year data that had shown improvement on last year. He said summer spikes had been expected but not carnage on this scale in a single crash, and argued Jamaica must mobilise against road deaths with the same national focus applied to homicides. He also urged swift rollout of all outstanding Road Traffic Act measures—public education, enforcement, and training—and offered condolences while police continue investigating.

Opposition land and works spokesperson Luton Cousins, in a Friday statement, accused Transport Minister Daryl Vaz of misleading the public by tying the toll-adjustment mechanism to the former People’s National Party government. Cousins said the core North-South Highway deals were negotiated under the Jamaica Labour Party in 2011, citing a May 27, 2011 framework agreement, a November 16, 2011 implementation agreement, a January 13, 2013 memorandum of understanding with China Harbour Engineering Company Limited, and a June 2012 restated agreement that, he argued, still rested on terms already set. He also linked higher tolls to inflation running above the government’s target band and demanded disclosure on planned Montego Bay toll plaza expansion—whether it is a grantor variation, who pays, whether works meet service-level duties, and how any public spending serves taxpayers and motorists.