Williams appeals for time out amid St Thomas clash
MAYOR OF Morant Bay Hubert Williams has called for the supporters of the People’s National Party (PNP) to “stay calm” and “focused” amid what they believe to be a physical altercation motivated by political alliances.
In the now viral video, Dean Jones, the prospective councillor-candidate for the Trinityville division in Western St Thomas, appeared to have drawn a firearm on a redclad Wayne Walker.
In the video, Walker is seen approaching a vehicle in which Jones is sitting. Jones then begins to attack Walker with a second man, clad in a black T-shirt and orange hat, coming to Walker’s assistance, kicking Jones in the process.
The altercation continued with two unknown men, clad in green, who are seen attacking Walker.
The incident took place on Monday at Walker’s premises in Springfield, St Thomas.
Williams, who is also the PNP councillor for the White Horses division, made his call for calm during a press briefing called by the PNP caucus of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation (StTMC).
Stating that he understood why many PNP supporters were upset by the incident, he requested of them to allow for the justice system to deal with the situation instead.
“We don’t want to destroy our parish; we don’t need to behave like Mr Jones. I know man out deh vex, inna plain Jamaican terms, but please, I’m asking for zero revenge ... I’m begging,” he pleaded.
Williams stated that the party had already retained King’s Counsel K.D. Knight, noting that they believed him to be more than competent to deal with the situation.
“I know that this can get dangerous, I know how dangerous it can be. But we are the people who utilise this space on a daily basis, and we can’t allow this space to become a dangerous space ... we own the parish and we have to protect the parish at all costs,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Rohan Bryan, who is also councillor for the Morant Bay division, described the incident as “very disturbing” and Jones’ actions as “unacceptable”.
“As a councillor here getting ready to go back for another term, my thing is I don’t want to be a part of things like these man, we don’t want this,” he said.
Bryan continued that this kind of behaviour was not needed for the future of the nation and that he was “totally” against what took place.
“We love St Thomas people, PNP, JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) it don’t matter to we... but this kind of warmonger [behaviour] and this kind of thing that they coming about, we don’t want this, we don’t need it,” he said, adding that such “intimidation” tactics would not be successful.