Prosecutor weighs return to 2013 Barbecue triple-shooting site in police murder trial

Crown prosecutor Kathy Pike told the Home Circuit Court on Tuesday that she may seek judicial approval to revisit the location where three men were shot dead on January 12, 2013, on Aadia Drive in Barbecue, St. Andrew. Matthew Lee, Ucliffe Dyer, and Mark Allen were killed during an alleged exchange of gunfire with the police. A fourth man was said to have escaped, and two illegal firearms were recovered.

Pike was on the second day of her examination-in-chief of a lead investigator from the Independent Commission of Investigations during the murder trial of six police officers. The INDECOM witness confirmed photographs shown in court as depicting the aftermath of the incident, but said he returned to the area last weekend and noticed changes, including raised walls at premises opposite the apartment complex where Agriculture Minister Floyd Green lived at the time. Green and another person who said they watched part of the incident from that building were the only civilian witnesses in the long-running trial, which opened in January. On trial are Sergeant Simroy Mott, Corporal Donovan Fullerton, and Constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Randy Rose, and Richard Lynch. Fullerton also faces a charge of making a false statement to INDECOM. Justice Sonia Bertram-Linton is presiding.

Opposition spokesman on water and special projects Ian Hills accused the Government of steering most planned water investments away from constituencies represented by People's National Party MPs. Referring to Minister Matthew Samura's recent sectoral debate listing of 34 projects costing J$4.2 billion, Hills said about J$3.65 billion, or roughly 85 per cent, was earmarked for seats held by Jamaica Labour Party MPs. He pressed Samura on whether only JLP-aligned areas deserved expanded water access and called for transparent project listings, quarterly progress updates, and a national master plan.

The Jamaica Medical Doctors Association warned on Tuesday afternoon that a shortage of medical interns is placing patient safety and doctor welfare at risk across the island. President Dr. Renee Batro said reduced intern numbers are stretching hospital teams, with some working 24- to 32-hour shifts on alternate days and reports of shifts reaching 56 hours, in breach of internship guidelines. She linked the strain to exhaustion, illness, and road accidents among young doctors, and cited sewage leaking into a doctors' room at one institution. "You do not want a tired doctor to treat you," Batro said, urging action to protect interns and patients.