YEAR IN REVIEW: CRIME

With a seven-day period low of nine murders during the week of Christmas, and a high of 44 during one week in November, Jamaica’s homicide numbers in 2024 averaged 22 murders per week throughout the year, leading to a reduction in homicides by 252 (or 19 per cent) when compared to 2023.

Despite the reduced murder rate, Jamaicans were rocked by several horrifying incidents, including a politician charged with the murder of his wife and numerous mass killings, which the Government has termed “multiple-victim violent incidents”. Community-based gang and domestic violence, deadly armed robberies and contract killings also kept law enforcement busy across the various police divisions.

The guns were even turned on members of the security forces, as both the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) lost manpower to crime during 2024.

The year was also impacted by an increase in financial crimes, including bank and wire fraud, an increase in motor vehicle larceny, as well as crime and violence in close proximity to or on school compounds.

A number of social media personalities, with their real-time broadcasts and far-reaching influence, also became the subjects of high-profile probes in 2024.

Among the many investigations were the murder of an entertainer known publicly as ‘Body Good’, who was shot and his body dumped in Guava Gap, St Andrew, on February 13. Another was the murder of Xavier ‘Niah Gang’ Fogah during a TikTok live stream on December 7 in Old Harbour, as well as fellow TikToker Marvin ‘41 Busshead’ Samuels’ murder in St James on December 20.

The September 2, Allman Town murder of University of the West Indies student, 23-year-old Keauno ‘Popsy’ Watson, which also occurred during a TikTok live, and the December 8 dramatic live-streamed surrender of four criminals at a supermarket in Spalding, Manchester, were also of note.

On January 19, the political arena was left shocked after a probe by the Major Investigations Division led to former People’s National Party (PNP) Member of Parliament Jolyan Silvera being charged with the murder of his wife, Melissa.

The incident took place inside their apartment at Diamond Court on Diamond Road in Stony Hill, St Andrew.

Silvera has been in custody since and, after several Circuit Court appearances from which the media has been locked out, he has been unable to secure bail.

The mass killings started to resonate on August 11, following the deaths of nine people and injuring of 10 others in Cherry Tree Lane in Four Paths, Clarendon.

A few weeks later, on August 21, seven people were shot, one fatally, at the wake of entertainer Chris Martin’s grandmother in Point Hill, St Catherine.

On October 9, six persons were shot, one fatally, in Cassava Piece, St Andrew.

The dead woman was identified as 28-year-old Kelly-Ann Bernard.

Later that same month, on Heroes Day, October 21, five men were shot and killed after a peace football match in Pleasant Heights, formerly Wareika Hill, Rockfort, in Kingston East.

The dead men in that incident were Ortavia ‘Mendez’ Austin, 51; his son Okero ‘Kero’ Austin, 29; Odane ‘Bones’ Josephs; Rosrick ‘Teneil’ Thomas; and an individual who at the time was unidentified.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his team visited this scene, as well as the scene of the most recent mass killing which occurred on November 25 along Waltham Park Road in St Andrew.

Five people were killed in separate incidents less than an hour apart.

Among the domestic incidents, a bizarre murder and confession in Glengoffe, St Catherine, which led to the gruesome discovery of 32-year-old Lisa-Gay ‘Babes’ Cobre’s body on October 8, stood out.

Cobre was reported missing on September 28, but on October 8, a butcher who she grew up with as an ‘adopted’ sibling, and still lived with, went to the police on October 7 and confessed to her murder and burial.

On October 8, Orlando ‘Juckie’ Chin took investigators to Girls Town Lane, where Cobre’s body was exhumed from a shallow grave.

He was charged with murder and unlawful burial a week later.

An autopsy in December reportedly concluded that Cobre was buried alive with a head injury after being knocked unconscious during a fight with her attacker.

During 2024, the JDF and JCF also investigated crimes committed against their own.

On July 31, JDF Corporal Sekou Medder, 30, was found dead in a service vehicle parked along the Palisadoes Road in Kingston.

Some time after 8 a.m., Medder was found in his blood-soaked uniform suffering from what appeared to be a gunshot wound and with a pistol between his hands in his lap.

Also, on August 23, the murder of another member of the JDF, this time within the Denham Town zone of special operations, 20-year-old Private Ejay Domville, left investigators baffled.

Reports are that Domville was on duty along Bond Street when he was shot and killed by unknown assailants.

Among the members lost by the JCF was Constable Richard Fairclough of the St Ann Divisional Operational Support Unit, who was shot dead on April 15 when he responded to a robbery.

Corporal Christopher Smith was killed on December 6, also during a robbery at a gas station which was caught on camera.

The incident unfolded at the Texaco station at the intersection of East and Beechwood avenues in St Andrew.

A month earlier, on November 7, Sergeant Patrick Mahoney was shot and injured at his home in Portmore, St Catherine. He died a few days later in hospital.

There was an increase in motor vehicle theft across the island, most notably in the Corporate Area.

The police arrested and charged players who were found with high-tech devices that aid in motor vehicle theft.

There were mind-boggling incidents, including that of a medical doctor who bought a 2025 Toyota Rav 4 from a dealership for his pregnant wife, only for the brand new vehicle to be stolen from their St Andrew home six days later, with no sign of a break-in.

The St Andrew North police also reported an increase in motor vehicle theft, adding to the islandwide total of 1,400 by the end of October.

GOVERNMENT, OPPOSITION ARGUE OVER CRIME FIGHT

Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang has said states of public emergency (SOEs) and zones of special operations (ZOSOs) were instrumental in reducing the country’s murder rate last year.

Speaking in the House of Representatives recently, Chang criticised the position taken by the parliamentary Opposition to not support the imposition of SOEs.

“States of public emergency were designed to save lives and bring down the murder rate quickly. Save lives at the very beginning. As we rebuild and transform our security forces for lasting change, we care about the lives of Jamaicans,” Chang said.

According to Chang, the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) had always articulated that the plan of the Government was to “use strong legislative measures to reduce the homicide rate while we build out the security forces and initiate strategic social transformation ventures; write laws, which take some time themselves, but would save lives [and] create greater safety in the community”.

Chang, who is also deputy prime minister, said the police will be increasing targeted operations this year to dismantle criminal gangs.

The Government, he said, has been working alongside the security force as they focus on deterrence which is designed to reduce crime, even before criminal apprehension takes place.

Some 300 people have been identified as being associated with violence.

Chang said several of the 300 suspects have been arrested, others have fled the island, and some were fatally shot during reported confrontations with the police.

However, Opposition Spokesman on National Security Peter Bunting has urged Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake to stick to traditional policing and move away from the imposition of SOEs as a crime-fighting tool.

According to Bunting, the reduction in murders in 2024 is a direct result of the police resorting to traditional policing, targeting gangs and gang leaders and criminal networks.

The Opposition PNP has also said this week that it is deeply concerned about what it called the lack of a coherent and effective crime strategy from the JLP administration. It said this was evidenced by Chang’s comments in Parliament.

“The minister’s remarks reveal a troubling pattern of contradictions, arbitrary use of data, and semantic distractions rather than substantive solutions to Jamaica’s crime crisis.”

Chang claimed that the security forces are tracking over 150 unresolved conflicts and 300 high-risk individuals, yet this figure has been repeatedly used in previous years. On past occasions, the same number— 300 — has been cited to represent either the number of criminal gangs or the number of violence producers.

Despite previous claims of dismantling gangs and reducing violence producers through arrests and incarceration, fatalities from confrontations with the police, absconding the country, or rehabilitation, this figure remains inexplicably static,” the PNP said in a release.

The PNP said it raised questions about the credibility of the Government’s data and the effectiveness of its efforts.

Furthermore, the PNP said while the minister celebrated a 19 per cent reduction in murders in 2024, reporting 1,141 murders, he failed to acknowledge that approximately 100 deaths are still classified as undetermined by the JCF.

“This deliberate omission undermines transparency and casts doubt on the accuracy of the statistics being presented to the Jamaican public.”

The PNP said it took issue with what it termed Chang’s contradictory approach to crime-fighting strategies, noting that he was now claiming to be pursuing a ‘focused deterrence’ strategy, which the Opposition called a repackaged version of the public health approach spearheaded by the PNP, which he had previously dismissed.

“Similarly, after years of rubbishing the value of social intervention programmes, the minister now advocates for ‘social support programmes’, using different terminology while continuing to evade the core issues of systemic violence and socio-economic inequality that fuel crime in Jamaica,” the PNP said.

For the first 11 days of the new year, 34 murders were recorded.

This represents eight more, or a 31 per cent increase, year-on-year.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com

Crime in the Headlines

January

- Cop shot by madman with his squaddies gun along Maxfield Avenue (January 10)

- 14-yr-old shot by police in 100 Lane (January 10)

- Silvera a suspect (January 19)

- Tastee employee killed on the job in Cross Roads (January 25)

- Bones found in shallow graves in Central Village again (January 31)

February

- Social media personality killed, thrown from car in Stony Hill (February 14)

- Tension in August Town after police killing before election motorcade (February 24)

March

- Whose bullet hit the victim, police or gunman? (March 30)

April

- King Alarm guard charged with assault of 9-yr-old girl at UWI (April 24)

- Burnt Shop drive-by shooting of three men (April 24)

- Nine-year-old assaulted on UWI campus (April 25)

May

- Cops kill four men who went on murder rampage in Kingston (May 8)

- Cop under probe for abduction and robbery in St Thomas (May 14)

- Cowboy and Indian-style shoot-out in Burnside, Red Hills (May 16)

- Basketballer found dead in Portmore (May 19)

- Footballer (Rafiek Thomas) killed in Denham Town (May 28)

June

- ‘Hot Lunch’ surprise (June 1)

July

- Shooting death of policeman and business man at Corporate Area police HQ (July 22)

- Woman in danger of losing eye after acid attack in Half-Way Tree (July 24)

- Four alleged gangsters killed in Negril by police is caught on video (July 27)

- JDF corporal found dead along Palisadoes road in service vehicle (July 30)

August

- Cherry Tree Lane massacre (August 11)

- Cops face party probe in St Ann over collection of money (August 16)

- Seven persons shot at Chris Martin’s grandmother’s wake (August 21)

- JDF private killed in Denham Town (August 23)

September

- Mother murdered before migration (September 6)

- Fractured peace, gang violence in Nannyville (September 12)

- MP fears Whitfield Town turning on itself (September 13)

- Four killed in mass shooting in New Roads, Westmoreland (September 30)

October

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- Woman killed and buried in Glengoffee, St Catherine (October 8)

- Six shot in Cassava Piece drive-by (October 9)

- Heroes Day mass murder in Rockfort (October 21)

November

- Violent attacks at or near schools (November)

- Car stealing spikes (November 10)

- Boys held for caught-on-camera sex assault (November 24)

- Another mass murder along Waltham Park Road rocks Jamaica (November 25)

- Bloodiest week with 44 murders (November 25)

- Females not safe in Jamaica (November 29)

- TikTokers beaten and police get in trouble (November 30)

December

- Jamaica ranks behind Haiti for five consecutive years as murderous Caribbean nation (December 3)

- TikTokers ‘Niah’ and ‘41 Busshead’ killed (December 7)

- Robbers beg for lives on TikTok Live (December 8)

- Dozens of guns seized at wharf in five barrels (December 12)

- Journalist Barbara Gayle killed at home (December 17)

- Man killed moments after arriving in Jamaica (December 17)

- FosRich senior manager shot dead in contract-style killing (December 19)

- Lowest murder week, eight killed (December 30)