Two killed in Williamsfield highway crash as Chang rejects St. Mary TCN claims and appeal court quashes murder conviction

Two people died in a fiery collision on the Williamsfield section of the PJ Patterson Highway early Saturday morning, police said.

The crash occurred around 3:45 a.m. near St. Toes and involved a Toyota Noah travelling eastbound. Police said the driver lost control while negotiating a right curve and struck a concrete retaining wall on the left side of the road. The vehicle caught fire, and both the driver and front-seat passenger were burned beyond recognition. Their remains have been taken to the morgue.

Separately, the Ministry of National Security and Peace has rejected as false and misleading claims that third country nationals (TCNs) are to be housed in St. Mary. The ministry was responding to an assertion made during a prime-time television news broadcast on June 25 that TCNs would be accommodated in the parish.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security and Peace Dr. Harris Chang said the Government has not approved the transfer of any third country nationals to any location in Jamaica. "There is no third country national in Jamaica at this time and the government has no arrangements for housing TCN's in St. Mary any housing arrangements for TCN's are the responsibility of the international organization for migration," Dr. Chang said.

He added that no transfers will take place until the necessary operational procedures have been finalised, noting that a video circulating online misrepresents the Government's stated position and risks causing unnecessary public concern. The ministry urged the public to verify information through official Government sources rather than sharing unsubstantiated claims.

In another development, the Court of Appeal has overturned the murder, firearm, and wounding convictions of a man who had been serving a life sentence after a fatal shooting in August Town on October 26, 2018.

The appellate court ruled that the prosecution's case rested on unreliable identification evidence that should not have survived a no-case submission. A panel comprising Justice Corner Shelley Williams, Frank Williams, and Vivine Harris found that the trial judge failed to adequately scrutinise the sole eyewitness identification before rejecting the defence's no-case submission, rendering the convictions unsafe.

"We have concluded that given the tenuous nature of the identification evidence, the no case submission should have been upheld," the judges said.

The appellant, Reed, had been convicted in December 2021 in the Gun Court circuit court division and sentenced to concurrent terms including life imprisonment for murder. The prosecution's case rested almost entirely on an eyewitness, Irving, who was shot and left permanently paralysed during the attack that killed Carile Grant.

Irving testified that he saw Reed exit a nearby vehicle armed with a silver handgun, his lower face covered by a handkerchief, and fire several shots at Grant, who was later found dead with multiple gunshot wounds at 41 Augusta Town Road. Although Irving said he had known Reed for more than 12 years, the Court of Appeal identified significant shortcomings in the identification evidence, including inconsistencies over the assailant's hairstyle and height and the limited opportunity to observe the gunman under stressful conditions.

Reed's defence maintained he was babysitting at his brother's house when the shooting occurred, with relatives supporting his alibi. The court rejected an affidavit in which Irving sought to recant his identification, but said it underscored the weakness of a case that depended almost exclusively on Irving's evidence. The convictions and sentences were set aside and judgments of acquittal entered on all three counts. Mel Rosed represented the appellant, while Lster Lewis and Luke Cook appeared for the Crown.