News Briefs

Deejay Rytikal detained in Bull Bay

Dancehall artiste Rytikal has been detained at the Bull Bay Police Station in St Andrew.

The 25-year-old entertainer, whose given name is Ryan McFarlane, was taken into custody on Thursday afternoon.

The police are tight-lipped about the arrest and would only confirm his detention.

Late Thursday evening, the police information arm issued a statement saying that a firearm and several rounds of ammunition were seized in Eight Miles, Bull Bay, earlier in the day.

One man was reportedly arrested in connection with the seizure.

Reports from the Elletson Road Police are that about 11:30 a.m., lawmen were on patrol in the area when a group of men aroused suspicion. A Taurus .380 pistol, along with a magazine containing twelve .380 rounds, was found inside a vehicle.

There is no indication that Rytikal has been charged, but he was expected to spend the night behind bars.

Rytikal is the labelmate of entertainer Skillibeng, the duo currently working with East Syde Records.

Among Rytikal’s popular songs are King Inna War, Dollar Bill, and Cookie Jar.

Fifth homeless man dies

The fifth of six homeless men who were the victims of heinous attacks in Kingston between Sunday night and Monday morning has died.

The latest deceased was one of two persons hospitalised since Monday.

Jamaicans woke up to macabre scenes spanning an arc of 9.5km (6.0 miles), stretching from the shopping strip of Half-Way Tree to downtown and further west near Bumper Hall.

Senior Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, head of the police information arm, confirmed reports that a fifth person had succumbed to his wounds.

Unlike the others who suffered chop wounds, the latest deceased was shot in his head and was being treated.

He was found along Courtney Walsh Drive, formerly known as Derrymore Road.

Meanwhile, three of the other deceased men have been identified.

They are 61-year-old Donald ‘Junior’ Atkins, Hugh Andrew Wellington, and Christopher Smith.

A man who is believed to be a deportee has since been taken into custody in relation to the attacks.

Cops call for body cameras in ZOSOs

The Police Federation is calling for body cameras to be provided for, and worn by, all law-enforcement officers working in zones of special operations (ZOSOs).

The request was made by the federation’s chairman, Corporal Rohan James, as he made a presentation to a joint select committee of Parliament reviewing the Law Reform (Zones of Special Operations) (Special Security and Community Development Measures) Act, 2017, which governs ZOSOs.

The union has also requested that every complaint made by, or concerning, persons arrested or detained be recorded in the station diary.

Opposition senator and committee member Lambert Brown questioned why body-worn cameras had not been distributed before now.

“We were told that friendly nations had made big donations to us … . I thought that this would have been the case when we discussed the ZOSO ... ,” said Brown, referencing a donation in 2016 by the United States Embassy of 120 body cameras valued at US$400,000.

“Why is this not being done?”

ZOSOs have been declared in Mount Salem, St James; Greenwich Town and Denham Town in Kingston; and August Town in St Andrew.

Cicely Tyson dies at 96

NEW YORK (AP):

Cicely Tyson, the pioneering black actor who gained an Oscar nomination for her role as the sharecropper’s wife in Sounder, won a Tony Award in 2013 at age 88, and touched TV viewers’ hearts in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, died Thursday at age 96.

Tyson’s death was announced by her family, via her manager Larry Thompson, who did not immediately provide additional details.

A onetime model, she began her screen career with bit parts but gained fame in the early 1970s when Black women were finally starting to get starring roles. Tyson refused to take parts simply for the paycheque, remaining choosey.

“Unfortunately, I’m not the kind of person who works only for money. It has to have some real substance for me to do it,” she told The Associated Press in 2013.

Besides her Oscar nomination, she won two Emmys for playing the 110-year-old former slave in the 1974 television drama The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. A new generation of moviegoers saw her in the 2011 hit The Help.

In 2018, she was given an honorary Oscar statuette at the annual Governors Awards.