SAVAGERY!
Teen employees and businessman brutally attacked, wife murdered
HER face awash with tears and barely audible grief-filled words, a distraught grandmother told the tale of how her two granddaughters were brutally and repeatedly stabbed in a bizarre attack perpetrated by their fellow employee yesterday.
Clad in black and clutching the hand of a young boy, Isolyn Harper feared for the worst as she spoke with The Gleaner about the savagery her ‘babies’ endured.
In a bloody, murderous rampage at Moncrieffe’s Patio Shop at 471/4 Old Hope Road, St Andrew, co-founder Barbara Moncrieffe was killed; her husband, Vassell, as well as cousins – 19-year-old Jadene Wilson, acting assistant manager, and 18-year-old Jenelle Roach, acting secretary – seriously injured.
According to reports, shortly after 12 midday, a 30-odd-year-old male employee, who was not scheduled to report to work, entered the building and began attacking the staff with a metal implement.
Both teens received multiple stab wounds to the torso during the assault, with Wilson reportedly also stabbed in her eye and genital. They were rushed to the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) for emergency surgery.
Barbara died on the spot, while Vassell was taken to the University Hospital of the West Indies in serious condition. The Moncrieffes, who established the business over a half a century ago, were said to be in their 80s.
OH GOD! OH GOD!
“Somebody from the workshop stab up me ‘grandbaby’ dem!” wailed Harper.
“When him mek offa dem wid di metal, dem affi jump di wall, but dem still get it. Oh God! Oh God! Mi nuh know. Di boss wife dead, and him and mi granddaughter dem deh hospital.”
Unable to contain it anymore, she rushed up the road to board a vehicle to get to KPH.
Along both sides of the heavily trafficked stretch, bystanders wept openly, gesticulated angrily and spoke in hushed tones about the reallife horror that had just transpired. All seemingly had more questions than answers.
When The Gleaner news team went to KPH, Suzette Harper, mother of Jadene, stood outside shell-shocked among a group of dazed family members.
“My daughter get around five to seven stabs, but I haven’t seen my niece since I got here,” a broken Harper shared.
“I got the work for my daughter and she started on January 25 last year, while my niece started late last year. Before she went into the operating theatre, she said, ‘Mommy, if anything happen to me, a ****** do it’.” (naming her attacker).
Following the attack, the suspect escaped police capture, much to the ire of those on the scene of the crime, as well as family members.
It is alleged that the accused male was permitted by the owners to reside on the premises of the shop some time ago, but recently relocated to a Kingston address.
Reports are that the assault stemmed from the theft of money in the office on a few occasions, where police reports were made.
“When him mek offa dem wid di metal, dem affi jump di wall, but dem still ” get it. Oh God! Oh God!