Another soldier dies in crash

Two persons, including a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier, were killed in a motorcycle crash in Clarendon yesterday, pushing the number of road fatalities over the holiday weekend to eight.

The soldier has been identified as Corporal Rory Beezer, who is attached to the 1st Battalion, Jamaica Regiment, at JDF headquarters, Up Park Camp.

The other victim has been identified as Melissa Johnson, 25, from Toll Gate, Clarendon.

Police investigators say they have information that another motorcycle was involved and theorised that the two could have been racing.

To support this theory, one investigator said impressions in the road indicate that Beezer's motorcycle was travelling on the opposite side of the Osborne Store main road when the accident occurred and that it skidded more than 100 metres after the initial crash.

"From my experience, we can't confirm it, but it appears as if they were racing," said the veteran investigator.

Lost control

The Clarendon police reported that Beezer and his female companion were thrown from the motorcycle after he lost control of it not far from his home in Toll Gate, Clarendon.

They were taken to the May Pen Hospital where they were pronounced dead.

On Sunday, 22-year-old Kemba Baxter, a member of the JDF Coast Guard, and his cousin, Adrian Smith, 19, were killed in a motor vehicle accident along the Castleton main road in St Mary.

Yesterday Captain Basil Jarrett, the JDF's civil-military cooperation and media affairs officer, said the armed forces were saddened by both deaths.

"You can expect that the soldiers here would be very, very sad at both losses this weekend," Jarrett said.

"The JDF is a very tight-knit family and any loss like this is bound to affect the mood and the morale of the troops here.

Four foreign nationals who were visiting from the United Kingdom were also killed on Sunday when the minibus in which they were travelling collided with another motor vehicle along the Braco main road in Trelawny.