Foreign girlfriend blamed for family feud

A shocking family drama played out in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court last week as 24-year-old man, Kevin*, armed with a medical document confirming his mental illness diagnosis, faced off with his older brother Richard* in a bitter legal dispute.

The case, which centred around accusations of housebreaking, took a sensational twist when Kevin alleged the shocking source of his troubles - a "white girlfriend" who frequently visits him in Jamaica, and sends him money from abroad. He said that his relationship has igniting intense jealousy from his own family.

This newspaper has disguised the identities of the parties due to concerns about the accused man's mental health.

Kevin has been accused by his 48-year-old brother of housebreaking.

"It's a board kitchen, but a big hole in deh. Him break into my place and taking my things. A long time him a do it," Richard alleged.

The complainant told Senior Parish Judge Sanchia Burrell that he and Kevin shared a house, but the younger sibling was kicked out after ongoing disputes.

"I lived with my fiancee, she look after my grandmother. Him fight her off, she get fed up and move out and go over my grandma, and my house has been left unprotected. Him constantly going in my house," Bennett explained.

The judge questioned why Richard hadn't closed up the hole in his house, but Bennett replied, "It a guh cost mi money. My brother, he did it [put a hole in the wall]. I tired of it, Your Honour. I can't a work so hard fi buy my things dem and him steal them and sell them, and him mother is backing him."

When the men's mother took the stand, tensions boiled over. Richard claimed, "She nuh like mi, Your Honour!" and recounted a troubling incident where he was attacked by a man who later confessed, "him say a mother send him fi do it."

However, the mother denied these claims and instead accused Richard of being abusive. "[name deleted] throw kerosene oil on mi, spit in mi face, draw mi out, kick mi, say him a guh poison mi. I have to take the food and throw it away," the mother of seven testified.

Judge Burrell was visibly shocked by the family dysfunction. "But you don't grow them good!" she exclaimed before asking if any of the children treated the mother well.

"Them deal with mi a way, but Kevin will give mi things. Him girlfriend send things from foreign, one white woman take care a him," the mother shared.

"So you have white woman fi true?" Burrell asked Kevin, who confidently explained that the woman visits him in Jamaica, they stay at hotels together but this time she wants to meet his mother. He said she often sends him money from overseas. Kevin insisted his relationship was the source of envy.

"A true mi a go a foreign and dem ting deh him [Bennett] want mi career dirty up," he declared.

Kevin also assured the court that he takes his medication consistently and is stable.

"Sir, there is a problem in your family, and there is deep unhappiness," Judge Burrell told Bennett, recommending restorative justice to mend the family feud. However, Richard seemed reluctant, prompting Burrell to conclude that he is not a "peace-making man."

Ultimately, Kevin was discharged with a formal verdict of not guilty and was warned to stay away from his brother's house.

* Names changed to protect identity.