(Jamaica Observer) The gruesome discovery of the body of a 14-year-old girl wrapped in a sheet on the side of a road in Kingston 11; the killing of a special constable by gunmen dressed in police garb along Grange Lange in St Catherine; and the brazen attack on a businessman in the upper St Andrew community of Temple Hall kept detectives in the Corporate Area and St Catherine busy between late Tuesday and yesterday morning.
The slender, badly bruised body of Shariefa Saddler, who hailed from Joshua Edwards Avenue in Olympic Gardens, was dumped on Lothiam Avenue — which is in close proximity to where she lived — by men in a motor car shortly after 11:00 am.
The teen is believed to have been abducted while on her way to classes at the Haile Selassie High School earlier in the morning. The body was still clad in the Haile Selassie uniform she had left home in with a men’s tie knotted around her neck.
“Ah pass people a pass on the road this morning and seh dem see a car drive up in the area and dump the body [wrapped] in a sheet,” one woman said.
Speculation that Shariefa may have been raped remains unsupported by the cops who say it’s too early to tell.
“Police are waiting on [the results of the] post-mortem before they disclose additional details in the case,” said one policeman on the scene.
The police also could not say what was the motive for the killing.
“We are still trying to gather information in the case and are also trying to establish a motive,” Senior Superintendent Delroy Hewitt told the Jamaica Observer.
Superintendent Hewitt was accompanied to the area by several senior officers, including Assistant Commissioner of Police George Quallo.
The police search of the area led to the discovery of a bag belonging to the girl in a nearby gully, some metres away from where her body was found lying face down.
The killing and the dumping of the body in broad daylight left residents in shock.
“How man can be so cold? As a mother, to see how the criminals deal with the little girl it makes you afraid to send your child on the road,” one woman said, as she and others argued that the child’s killers, when found, should be subjected to jungle justice.
Shariefa’s killing happened hours after Special Constable Duan Peart died from multiple gunshot wounds sustained while on his way to his home in Portmore, St Catherine.
His attackers were said to have been dressed in uniforms similar to those worn by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
He became the second member of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) to have died at the hands of gunmen in a week.
Peart’s killing has been condemned by Police Commissioner Owen Ellington and ISCF Commandant James Golding.
“It has now become abundantly clear to all that the criminals among us will murder, shoot at, and confront the police in order to perpetrate their life of crime,” said Ellington in a release yesterday.
“The police will not be deterred or moved and will continue to lawfully respond to all threats against our personnel. As such, I urge all members to conduct their duties with extreme caution and care,” continued the commissioner, describing Peart’s murder as inhumane, heartless and vicious.
Golding, meanwhile, said ISCF members remained “committed to the cause of policing in a professional manner, despite this unprecedented attack on ISCF members by lawless gunmen”.
The St Andrew North Police said yesterday that they were following several leads in the murder of businessman Fabian Latibeaudiere, who was peppered with gunmen’s bullets as he tried to enter his Toyota Prado motor vehicle in the rural St Andrew community of Temple Hall early Wednesday morning. The incident triggered shock and fear among residents in the area.
“Reports we have received are that the businessman, Fabian Latibeaudiere, was at a house when he was approached by gunmen who opened fire, hitting him several times,” said a police source.
Police reports were that the gunmen then fled the scene by car and Latibeaudiere was rushed to the Medical Associates Hospital in St Andrew where he was pronounced dead.
The cops could not confirm claims that a firearm and a large sum of cash were stolen from the victim.
Latibeaudiere’s son, Jamoy, fought hard to hide his pain as he spoke with the Observer.
“The last time I saw him was yesterday, but I never got the chance to say anything to him,” said the teenager.
Others, who streamed to the scene, spoke of his kindness.
“That man was a good man. He was a person who provided employment to more than 20 people. Mi still cannot believe it,” said one man as he and others talked among themselves in the community.
