Loud explosions early Thursday morning, September 8, brought familiar fears and horror into the hearts of residents of the Annotto Bay community in St Mary.
And when the sun rose over the seaside town on Jamaica’s north-eastern coast, the fears were turned into reality.
It was about minutes to seven, when police made the gruesome discovery of the bodies of 62-year-old Albert Pryce, 25-year-old Rushell Williams, and her eight-month-old daughter Aleair Sewell in Pryce’s house at Love Lane on Fort George Road in Annotto Bay.
All three had been shot dead by unknown assailants.
Williams and Pryce were in a visiting relationship.
For residents of Annotto Bay, it was a familiar story for a town that many regard as the ‘downtown Kingston’ of St Mary with its eerie street corners, dilapidated old buildings and houses and sewage running through the town.
“Annotto Bay again… Dis gone all ova Facebook and all ova the world. Man cum in the area and do him ting and the town ago get a bad name,” one man could be heard saying, as he shook his head in disbelief.
For many residents it was a scene of déjà-vu that morning as three years ago a few metres away, on Fort George Road, there was another triple killing.
It occurred in the wee hours of Thursday morning, July 18, 2013 at about 2:45 when armed men invaded a house and murdered three of its occupants.
David McIntosh, 41, and his spouse Maureen Pinnock, 44, were killed on the spot, while 27-year-old Dwayne Harris died during treatment at the Annotto Bay Hospital. They were all sprayed with bullets by gunmen who kicked open the door to the humble dwelling. Police at the time had reported that all three were shot in the head.
Some residents had then theorized that Harris may have been the person whom the gunmen wanted dead but they shot the other occupants of the house to ensure there were no witnesses.
Resident at last Thursday’s crime scene spoke in hushed tones as they recalled the memories of the gruesome murder.
“Many of the murders happen here (in Annotto Bay) and nothing ever come out a dem,” said one woman, who did not wish to be identified.
The police still have not held anyone in connection with the recent triple killing in Annotto Bay, more than a week after the gruesome murders.
BABY KILLED IN 2013
One resident, who also wished not to be identified, also explained that eight-month-old Aleair Sewell was not the first baby to have met her demise on Fort George Road in Annotto Bay.
At about ten minutes after eight on Thursday morning, January 10, 2013, a mentally-ill woman, Michelle Stewart of Fort George road, walked into the Annotto Bay police station and confessed that she had killed her baby.
Police went to the house and saw the baby, 11-month-old Lyndon Mattison lying on the bed with a large wound to the neck and a machete beside him.
A post-mortem report conducted later revealed that the baby had a chop wound over the left side of the neck and shoulder with severing of the underlying muscles, vessels and airway. There was also chop wounds to the back of the left arm and forearm.
Stewart was taken into custody and following several psychiatric evaluations, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Stewart pleaded guilty to infanticide on February 23 this year and was given a three-year suspended sentence on Thursday, April 28 in the Home Circuit Court, Kingston.
DOMESTIC KILLINGS TOO
Commissioner of police, Dr Carl Williams had told journalist hours after the latest triple murder, Thursday, September 8 that they believed the crime had spawned out of a domestic dispute.
Domestic related killings in Annotto Bay are not strange occurrences to the town.
A man and a woman were killed in front of two small children in Annotto Bay, St Mary early Monday morning, January 12, 2015. The man allegedly responsible for the killing was an ex-boyfriend of the deceased female, with whom she had refused to restart a relationship.
Those killed were 29-year-old Camille Bell, a bartender of Mary Trust Lane in Annotto Bay and 36-year-old Miguel Anthony Campbell, a labourer of Aleppo also in St Mary.
The suspect, Oneil Anderson also called “Nedo”, who was being sought in connection with the fatal shooting of Bell and Campbell was later shot by the police during an alleged confrontation in Windsor in Portland that same Monday at about 11 o’clock.
It’s reported that Anderson was accosted by the police and tried to attack them with a machete when he was shot.
RESOLVE ISSUES
According to Commissioner Dr Carl Williams, who visited the latest crime scene in Annotto Bay, “We want to appeal to the persons who are killing that there are other ways to solve issues. It should not lead to death.”
Some of the residents explained that there needs to be a greater presence from the police in the Annotto Bay community.
“Other murda happen throughout the year, but this killing of three people one time jus brutal so. We need the police to be present more in the area,” one female resident said at the crime scene.
