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Paediatrician issues child abuse warning

With schools closed for the summer, parents and guardians are being reminded to pay greater attention to their children's safety.

Dr Curtis Pryce, president of the paediatric Association of Jamaica, said children are particularly vulnerable to abuse during this period and encourages well-thinking Jamaicans to report suspected cases.

"We find that there are less children reporting during the summer. It's not that there are less cases, but less opportunity for [children to self-report]. What we find is, during the month of September, leading up to schools reopening, the number of reported cases rapidly escalates and that is really because children are at home," Pryce said.

He added: "They are outside of school, and away from teachers -- the mandatory reporters... they are the ones who tend to see these changes in the behaviour [and appearance]. It's when they get back to school that the reports come in a little more fast and furious. So, we encourage parents to act as soon as they pick up on these things."

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Jamaicans urged to sign up for PATH

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is encouraging Jamaicans to take advantage of the offerings under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).

Portfolio minister Pearnel Charles Jr said the programme is also crucial for facilitating the education of vulnerable groups.

"A critical objective of PATH is to ensure that children from low-income households are provided with the resources to complete their primary and secondary education, and that they receive support for post-secondary and tertiary education to make them employable; and by doing so, empower them to break the cycle of poverty that comes with low levels of education," he said.

Introduced in 2002, the PATH programme was developed to provide social assistance for individuals from vulnerable households, such as children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, persons living with disabilities, and elderly dependents.

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Murder suspect caught fleeing scene

The swift action of the police led to the arrest of a man suspected of murdering another man on Claude Clarke Avenue, Montego Bay, St James, on Wednesday.

Reports from the Montego Bay police are that about 6:30 p.m., residents saw the suspect stabbing a man -- 43-year-old Lincoln Green -- and alerted the police. The police team responded and accosted the suspect as he was attempting to flee the scene.

The suspect's identity is being withheld pending further investigations.

Green, who is a bar manager, was found lying on his veranda in a pool of blood with multiple stab wounds to his upper body. He was taken to the hospital where he pronounced dead.

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Man charged for welder's murder

Twenty-six-year-old Javorie McLeish of Spanish Town Road in Kingston 11 was slapped with several charges following an incident on June 29.

McLeish has been charged with murder, wounding with intent, possession of a prohibited weapon, unauthorised possession of ammunition, and using a prohibited weapon to commit a felony.

Reports from the Hunts Bay police are that about 5 p.m., 48-year-old Trevor Williams, otherwise called 'Pedro', a welder of Spanish Town Road in Kingston 13, and another man were at the location when McLeish alighted from a Nissan motor car and opened gunfire, hitting them. The police were summoned and the men taken to hospital; Williams was pronounced dead, while the other man was admitted.

An investigation was carried out and McLeish was arrested during an operation. He was charged on Wednesday.

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Two charged for wounding

St Andrew Central Police Division sleuths have arrested and charged two men with wounding with intent following an incident on Constant Spring Road, Kingston 10, on August 2.

They are 20-year-old Stephen Halstead, a student of Pandora Crescent in Kingston 11, and 21-year-old Roshawn Minott, unemployed, of Bay View Boulevard, Bull Bay in St Andrew.

Reports from the Half-Way Tree police are that about 1:50 a.m., Halstead and Minott, armed with knives, attacked and stabbed a man multiple times. An off-duty police officer noticed the altercation and intervened, discharging his licensed firearm in the direction of the men, hitting Halstead in the lower body.

The police were alerted and assisted all three men to the hospital. Halstead and Minott were treated and later released into police custody. They were subsequently charged following a question-and-answer session in the presence of their attorney on Wednesday.