(Jamaica Observer) Long-time GraceKennedy employee Arlene Lym and her 73-year-old mother Dorothy Lym were the victims of a most vicious murder early yesterday morning at their Queen’s Way home in Kingston 10, triggering shock and bewilderment among friends, neighbours and co-workers.
Arlene Lym, who police said was 48 years old, had been working with GraceKennedy Chairman Douglas Orane since 1987. At the time of her death she was his executive assistant.
“This has hit us all very hard,” GraceKennedy’s Corporate Communications Manager Lorraine Jones told the Observer yesterday. “Our chairman is really overcome with shock and bereavement at what happened.”
Late yesterday evening, police said they had taken a man into custody for questioning in relation to the murders. They did not give his name.
Police report that residents heard screams for help coming from the property at about 6:00 am. They went to investigate and saw a man leaving the premises.
According to the police, Arlene Lym had gone outside to perform her routine morning exercise while her mother was having breakfast. The younger Lym was attacked and stabbed by a man who was apparently hiding in the washroom at the back of the complex. On hearing her daughter’s screams, Dorothy Lym went outside to investigate and was also brutally attacked and stabbed.
Neighbours found both women outside the back entrance to their building.
Arlene died on the spot, while her mother succumbed to her wounds a short while later at the University Hospital of the West Indies.
