Tears flowed freely among residents of the Capture Land community in Boscobel, St Mary some of whom were left in shock, anger and despair over the murder of a popular taxi operator from the community on Friday morning, October 7.
Dead is 34-year-old Roderick Williams, popularly known as ‘Kevin’, of Capture Land in Boscobel, St Mary.
Williams, was shot multiple times by two gun men, while he waited for two passengers in a section of the community.
Police investigators have been relentless in their probe in finding the culprits responsible. According to head of the St Mary police, deputy superintendent Dwight Powell, the police had picked up some persons on the same day of the incident and they are to be questioned.
Speaking to The Times on Monday, October 10, DSP Powell explained that they were also pursuing other men for questioning.
REGULAR TRIP
It was a regular trip that Williams made to collect the passengers; a female teacher and her son according to some residents at the crime scene.
Williams was a popular taxi operator, who plied the Oracabessa to Ocho Rios route.
As residents and family members gathered close to the scene and saw Williams’ body close to the roadway, the most common questions was: “Why dem kill him?”
Some mentioned that he was a quiet man who rarely spoke to anyone.
As members of the police force processed the crime scene and took photographs of Williams’ bullet-riddled body that lay face down, the right door of the grey Pro Box taxi he drove was opened with the alarm beeping on and on for hours. The sound of the alarm continued to create an eerie atmosphere throughout the community that reminded residents of the unfortunate crime in their area.
ROBBERY WAS A MOTIVE
Reports from the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF’s) information arm, the Corporate Communications Unit (CCU), are that at about 7:15 a.m. last Friday, Williams parked his car in front of the gate of a passenger’s house. It was while awaiting the passenger’s arrival that two armed men approached him.
The police report further stated that the men proceeded to rob Williams of an undetermined sum of money and a cellphone. The men later shot Williams several times and escaped on foot in the area.
According to DSP Powell, robbery was a motive in relation to Williams’ murder. When asked about the number of times the taxi driver was shot, DSP Powell noted that a post-mortem would determine the accurate figure. He was quick to add that the police recovered several spent shells from the crime scene.
GRIEF FOR RELATIVES, FRIENDS
In the meantime, relatives of Williams, who gathered at the scene last Friday, struggled to understand why anyone would want to harm the man they had known by his pet name ‘Kevin.’
Williams’ stepdaughter, Omelia Murray explained that her stepfather lived with her brother at the time of his death and he was a very quiet man.
“Him very nice and him nuh talk to people none a tall. Him just load and drive… It really surprising because him is a quiet man,” she told The Times in an interview.
A woman, who identified herself as Dorette, wept at the crime scene as she found the murder of Williams hard to come to terms with.
“Kevin (Roderick Williams) was like mi son. Kevin nuh do nobody nothing… He is my taxi driver and him carry my grandson to school. If I do not have any money, Kevin still a carry me… I am really distraught that they would do this to him,” she said.
Williams’ brother-in-law, Sheldon Edwards echoed the sentiments of everyone that he (Williams) was not a talkative person.
“Kevin (Roderick Williams) nuh talk to people that much. Me a him brother-in-law and him not even talk to me much. Him nuh give no trouble. This look obvious that this a set up. Why they didn’t take him last night? Why them take him this morning? I don’t know what to say. It is a sad story,” Edwards told reporters at the scene.
The death of Williams brings to 29 the number of people murdered in St Mary since the start of the year.
