MANCHESTER, Jamaica – The Manchester police reported that they have arrested and charged a businessman with assault at common law and using a firearm to commit a scheduled offense following an incident in Banana Ground district, Manchester, on May 13, 2023.

The police identified the accused as Shaquille Hewitt, o/c ‘Specie,’ age 28, a businessman of William Crescent, in Kingston.

According to the police report, at about 4:00 pm, on May 13, 2023, Hewitt was in dispute with the complainant when he allegedly pointed a firearm at her before fleeing the scene.

The complainant made a report to the police. And law enforcement officers intercepted Hewitt in Clarendon while on his way home.

Police issued ANANDA ALERT for missing 15-year-old mother and child.

Missing mother and her child

The police High Command has issued an ANANDA ALERT for a missing teen mother, Latonia Barrett, and her daughter. They were last seen on May 16 near Golding Avenue, Kingston 6.

Barrett wore a white floral dress, and her daughter, Angelique Brisset, wore a jeans dress.

The police ask anyone with information on their whereabouts to contact the Papine Police, 119, or the nearest police station.

Judge remanded taxi operator accused of stabbing partner to death.

 A Manchester parish Judge remanded taxi operator Kevon Leslie, accused of stabbing his common-law-wife to death in the presence of her son and nephew when he appeared in court on Thursday, May 18, 2023.

The accused attorney, Norman Godfrey, was unable to attend court.

The presiding Judge remanded the accused until May 24, 2023.

According to court documents, on March 10, 2023, Leslie and his partner had a domestic dispute during which the accused reportedly used a knife to stab his now-deceased partner, Shade Brown, multiple times in the presence of her 11-year-old son.

It was Brown’s 11-year-old son who reportedly alerted neighbors about what occurred, the police reports say.

Brown was taken to the Mandeville Regional Hospital, later succumbing to her injuries.

U.S. citizens urged to reconsider traveling to Jamaica

On May 16, The United States urged its citizens to reconsider traveling to Jamaica due to the crime situation in the Caribbean country. Also, it prohibited government personnel from traveling to many areas due to increased risk.

In a travel advisory, the U.S. State Department has given the island, the sixth most popular Caribbean cruise destination, with roughly 1.66 million visitors annually, a Level 3 warning of the four-tier system, with only Level 4 “Do Not Travel” considered a more urgent warning.

The travel advisory of Level 3: Reconsider Travel was first advised for Jamaica in early 2022. But while this new update maintains that advisory, it expands on the discussion of types of crime and specific regions of the country where more crimes are recorded to give travelers the most detailed information to make their travel decisions.

According to the U.S. State Department, violent crimes, including home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and homicides, are common. It said sexual assaults occur frequently, even at all-inclusive resorts.

“Local police often do not respond effectively to serious criminal incidents. When arrests are made, cases are infrequently prosecuted to a conclusive sentence. Families of U.S. citizens killed in accidents or homicides frequently wait a year or more for final death certificates to be issued by Jamaican authorities,” Washington said.

US State Department