Cop insists Hunts Bay lock-up is one of island’s best
Despite eight inmates escaping simultaneously last year and two others doing so last Thursday, Senior Superintendent of Police Kirk Ricketts is adamant that the lock-up at the Hunts Bay Police Station is one of the island’s most secure.
Ricketts, who commands the St Andrew South Police Division, also told THE STAR that last Thursday’s incident was a result of certain procedural glitches and not structural deficiencies.
“There is always room to improve structurally, but Hunts Bay still remain one of the more secure lock-ups in the country,” he said. “We are looking at some procedural issues into this matter and that is as far as I’d want to go. But we are always very up to the time as it relates to the structural issues and we get the support of the services branch to fix any structural defects that we have.” Last Thursday, Roland Scully, 30, and Gevone Myrie, 26, escaped from the lock-up around 10:30 p.m.
SEVERAL PRISONERS WERE MOVED
According to the police, the two were discovered missing when checks were made and a hole was seen in the perimeter fence at the rear of the lock-up. Both Scully and Myrie were recently convicted for illegal possession of firearm and ammunition and were awaiting sentencing in September. Last year, at the end of a COVID-19 sanitation exercise, several prisoners were moved to a temporary holding area on the compound.
At the end of the exercise, lawmen discovered that eight prisoners breached a section of the holding area and escaped. Five of them surrendered soon afterwards, while another was captured and one killed during a confrontation with police. The eighth man is believed to still be at large. Ricketts said the police will not relent until Scully and Myrie are brought back into custody.
“Some hard work went into arresting and successfully prosecuting these two individuals, and it is extremely unfortunate that they were able to escape custody before serving their sentences. We will ensure that justice prevail and ensure that they are captured,” he said.
“We are coordinating with a number of divisions. We are getting information about sightings. And as such, we have a team from the St Andrew South space dedicated to this search. They have been following a number of leads in relation to these sightings. We remain optimistic that this will happen soon.”
Ricketts also urged Scully and Myrie to turn themselves in.
The mother of a teenager who was stabbed to death allegedly by her child’s father said sadness has overwhelmed her and rendered her almost speechless.
Dead is Nichara Campbell, otherwise called Mumzel, 19-yearold bartender of Taylor Road, Kitson Town, St Catherine. Her mother, Elisa Campbell, told THE STAR that her daughter’s death is haunting her.
“The sad thing is that she didn’t get to defend herself, as if she got the chance she would have defended it to the last, so that is really hurtful. The two-year-old child they shared don’t even want to go home, it’s that sad,” Campbell said.
Reports are that about 5 p.m. on August 4, the suspect and Campbell were involved in a heated dispute during which he allegedly used a knife to stab Campbell repeatedly in her upper body. She managed to run away from the house and was rushed to the Spanish Town Hospital by a woman where she succumbed to her injuries. Investigators at the St Catherine North Police Division said the suspect is in custody on suspicion of murder.
Campbell said that her daughter and the suspect had a rocky relationship and that she had asked for divine intervention.
“It was the other day I called her and asked her to pray and she said that she would. But this is the result, pure sadness and the child that is left behind is hurting,” Campbell said.
She commended the relatives of the suspect who summoned the police. But Campbell says this has not lessened the hurt.
“Sometime earlier this year he was beating her and she defended herself with a pot. But he got her back to visit and that is the result; it is very sad,” Campbell said.