Butcher chops off man's hand

There was high drama in the Ocho Rios Market last Thursday when a man's hand was reportedly chopped off by another man, said to be a butcher, in a machete fight, allegedly over a woman.

A police officer attached to the Ocho Rios Police Station, while confirming the incident, said he was unable to provide further details.

Eyewitnesses said the fight was over a female who works as a bartender in the resort town.

A vendor told THE STAR that a party was in full swing when she heard the commotion.

"Where my shop is, there was a party behind my shop, suh di music stop and mi hear di people dem a shout and a say dem chop off the man hand. When mi run guh round there mi see him hand a grung but mi neva see none a di guys dem. Mi just see di so-so hand pon di grung," the vendor said.

"A wul heap a blood did deh deh enuh ... Di wul market blood up," she explained.

The hand, which was chopped off close to the wrist, reportedly laid on the ground for several minutes before it was picked by a police team that later arrived on the scene.