St. Elizabeth shooting death, St. Ann murder charge, Portland farmer killed in Friday crime roundup

Detectives in St. Elizabeth are examining how Aneisha Thompson, 38, of New Forest in Manchester, came to be fatally shot on Friday morning in Hilltop District, Parate.

Police said the incident was reported around 8:30 a.m. A senior police source told investigators that Thompson’s 38-year-old boyfriend was preparing for work when he removed a licensed firearm from a safe and placed it on a table. While he was loading the weapon, Thompson reportedly picked it up playfully. As he tried to take it back, a shot was fired. She was taken to hospital and pronounced dead. An autopsy and ballistics tests are pending as officers treat the case as a death investigation while they assess whether the shooting was accidental.

In St. Ann, 51-year-old Conroy Hilton, also known as Rasta, a higgler from Mammee Bay, was charged on Wednesday with murder in the death of his fiancée, 34-year-old Jessica Howell, a vendor from Captureland in Mammee Bay. Investigators said that about 5:00 a.m. on June 6, Hilton went to Howell’s home, called her outside, and an argument turned physical. He is alleged to have slashed her throat with a knife before fleeing. Hilton later surrendered to police alongside his attorney on Monday.

A farmer died on Thursday afternoon after being chopped in Content District, Hube, Portland, sometime after 12:00 p.m. Police said the man suffered multiple wounds to the head and upper body during an attack by another man. His name has not been released, but the suspected attacker is in custody. The killing is the latest in the Portland Police Division, which recorded two murders between January 1 and June 27, according to Jamaica Constabulary Force statistics.

In Westmoreland, 28-year-old Nicole Lewis, also called Nikki, of Red Hills District, Burnt Savannah, was charged on Thursday with larceny as a servant. Police said Lewis supervised the cash register at a Burnt Savannah business and that between April and June the owner noticed unexplained revenue losses. On Sunday, June 28, CCTV footage and register records allegedly showed Lewis removing cash without authorisation and placing it in her handbag, then entering false transactions to hide the shortages. The matter was reported on Thursday, July 2, and Lewis was arrested at work the same day. Her court date is being finalised.

In regional news, the Antigua and Barbuda government says it will publish a white paper on proposals to relocate third country nationals from the United States. Prime Minister Gaston Browne said the document will outline the background to talks, issues for the country, the government’s assessment of proposals received, and conditions for any cooperation. Browne said the matter raises questions of sovereignty, legal responsibility, public finance, national security, social stability, and international obligations. The white paper is to be laid before Parliament during a special session in the week of July 13. Last month, cabinet endorsed Browne’s negotiating position on accepting a limited number of non-criminal third country nationals and refugees, and said talks with United States officials had resumed after Antigua submitted counter-proposals.