JAS wants DPP called in for stolen cattle case

Lenworth Fulton, the president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), has called on Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn to take over the case involving the mass theft of cattle in St Ann last Friday.

"We think that it should be taken out of the hands of the local police by the director of public prosecutions to give it the sort of prosecutorial importance that it deserves, to ensure that there is no error in the process, and that the guilty persons, whoever they are, face the penalty," Fulton said.

Four employees of fast-food company, Juici Patties, were arrested after two company vehicles were intercepted during a police operation in Alexandria. The police said the men were taken into custody after they failed to properly account for the livestock.

Juici Patties said that it dispatched its trucks and staff to Alexandria after someone claiming to be a cattle farmer with cattle for sale requested assistance with transportation. Juici Patties said that its team went to the location, met the alleged farmer and began to load the cattle. However, while there residents approached and alerted the team that the cattle were allegedly stolen.

The patty company said that is usually provides transportation for cattle farmers to take their animals to its abattoir in Clarendon.

Fulton said the JAS is hoping the matter will be thoroughly investigated.

"We think this is important, that it needs to be led from the top. When I say taken out of the hands of the local police, I am not saying the local police are not good," the JAS president said.

He recalled that a similar incident took place nearly a decade ago in central Jamaica where stolen cattle were found in three trucks.

"Nobody knows what was the outcome -- if anybody was arrested or if anybody went to court -- it just dissipated," he said.