Wilson shooting case sent to circuit court as Jamaica rounds out domestic headlines

The fatal May shooting of 45-year-old Latoya Belgin by a police constable in Granville, Montego Bay, has been committed to the St. James Circuit Court. Constable Andrew Wilson’s matter left the St. James Parish Court after prosecutors filed a voluntary bill of indictment. He remains on bail under existing conditions, with the case set to return on October 9.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force is grieving a second officer lost in a road crash within days. Three days after Constable Shaveene Davey died from injuries on the Bustamante Highway in Clarendon, District Constable Nathaniel McKenzie, 36, succumbed in hospital on Monday, July 13, to injuries from a June 9 crash. He reportedly lost control of his vehicle and struck a wall along New Road in Clarendon. Senior Superintendent Shane McCalla, Clarendon Division commanding officer, called it a tragedy but declined further comment.

Planning Institute of Jamaica figures show net population growth of only about 600 people in 2025: some 28,900 births and 21,300 estimated deaths (a natural rise of 7,600), largely offset by migration of about 7,000, for growth near 0.0 per cent. Sociologist Dr Heather Ricketts warned that ageing and below-replacement fertility may push Jamaica toward importing labour, and urged a government-backed family policy to ease education and living costs that discourage childbearing.

Central Westmoreland MP Dwayne Vaz has stepped down as the People’s National Party’s shadow spokesman on roads and works after discussions with Opposition Leader Mark Golding, saying he will focus on his constituency and Region 6. He denied any serious quarrel with the party leader and said he was never under police investigation over sexual harassment allegations by PNP councillor Julian Chang or an alleged Savanna-la-Mar assault matter.

Former Manchester North Western MP, cabinet minister and Mandeville mayor Dean Alexander Peart has died at 77. Relatives, including councillor Ryan Peart, recalled his decades of service and infrastructure work in the parish.

Health authorities are stepping up surveillance in Westmoreland after more hand, foot and mouth cases, mainly in children under five, and are pressing parents, schools and early childhood centres to tighten hygiene and keep symptomatic children home. Works Minister Robert Morgan, speaking at a Recovery and Rebuild Jamaica Expo, outlined about $10 billion in corporate-area capital road works and an accelerated plan for 55 climate-resilient bridges, roughly 21 in western Jamaica. The JCF Agricultural Protection Branch reported about 480 convictions and over $9 million in recovered produce in its first year. Opposition land and works spokesman Lothan Cousins criticised SPARK Phase Two’s concentration of nearly half its main-roads budget in the corporate area and St. Catherine, while education spokesman Damian Crawford called the ministry’s framing of this year’s PEP results flawed given a changed exam and unfinished learning recovery.