Trelawny, Jamaica – Commanding officer for the Trelawny Police, Superintendent Winston Milton, has warned that the parish is not the place to commit crimes, as the probability of perpetrators being caught, arrested, and charged is extremely high. He was speaking in light of the arrest and charging of two men for the murder of 61-year-old vendor Milton Morris of Crawle district, Duncans, Trelawny.
The arrest comes three weeks after the incident was committed on January 31 and marks a 100 percent clear-up rate for all crimes committed in the parish since January 1 this year. “We are very efficient in our investigative processes. Last year, we had a very high clear-up rate, the best in this region. We have continued on that trajectory for the course of this year. As a matter of fact, we have cleared up 100 percent of all crimes committed since January 1 to now, to include this particular murder. So consequently, we are asking the citizens again to ensure that in terms of interpersonal conflicts, they resort to dialogue rather than violence,” Superintendent Milton explained.
The men charged for Morris’ murder are 58-year-old shopkeeper Franklyn Brown, also known as ‘Johnny’, and 29-year-old Christopher Thomas, both from Trelawny. Reports from the Falmouth Police indicate that around 10:45 p.m., Brown and Thomas were among a group of people who beat Morris during a dispute. Morris received several injuries and was hospitalized. The injured man succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, February 23.
An investigation was launched into Morris’ death, and both men were subsequently taken into custody. They were charged on Saturday, March 01, after they were pointed out in an identification parade.
Superintendent Milton acknowledged that while conflict resolution remains a major problem, the police have been engaged with stakeholders to work on changing how people deal with conflicts without resorting to violence.
