Man stabs vendor in moment of madness

A Hanover man who attacked and stabbed a food vendor in Montego Bay, St James, during a reported psychotic episode last December has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment at hard labour.

The sentence was handed down in the St James Parish Court on Wednesday.

Thirty-six-year-old Enoch Green, who had previously pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding, received the custodial sentence when he appeared before presiding Parish Judge Natiesha Fairclough-Hylton.

During the sentencing hearing, Green's lawyer, Jillian Haughton, pointed out that the incident took place after Green, who has been on medication for mental health issues, abstained from taking his medication.

"The incident is one that is indeed very sad and unfortunate. Mr Green accepted responsibility for his action, but he does admit to having a mental problem, and in the social enquiry report he told the probation officer that he was feeling much better at the time; so he experimented with being off his medication for some time, which, of course, he now realises the consequences of that," said Haughton.

Judge Fairclough-Hylton said she had to take the public's safety into account when considering a suitable sentence, even as she lamented the lack of adequate facilities for treatment of mental-health patients like Green.

"Bellevue is no longer operating as it used to, and as such, the only mandatory way of having him receive any form of treatment would be to incarcerate him," Fairclough-Hylton remarked.

Bellevue is a mental health hospital based in Kingston.

Fairclough-Hylton subsequently sentenced Green to serve six months, while noting that time had been taken off due to the time he has already spent in custody.

On December 31, 2023, the complainant was preparing food for his cart along St James Street when Green approached him and stabbed him in the neck and chest. The complainant was taken to hospital for treatment, while Green was subsequently arrested and charged.

It is understood that the complainant did not know Green prior to that confrontation.

During previous court appearances, Green had indicated that he had a court matter of a similar nature in Hanover, and that he had gone off his medication because it made him move like a robot.