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Maroon leaders condemn attack on British journalists, pursue perpetrator
Pat Roxborough-Wright
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Maroon leaders were up to yesterday pursuing leads with a view to bringing the perpetrators of the attack, allegedly by one of their own, on three British journalists who were visiting Accompong Town, St Elizabeth on a filming expedition.
"We are expecting certain correspondences right now in order to move forward with the matter because this is a disgrace... and it is not what the Maroons are all about. We are very sorry that it happened and we apologise on their behalf. We just want to condemn the incident and do everything we can to bring this matter to justice," said Council member Melville Currie.
Currie - a deputy of Colonel Sydney Peddie, head of the Maroon Council - had been escorting the journalists when the attack ocurred.
He was close to tears as he recalled the incident.
"Right now my eyes are full of water... when I think of what the journalists went through... they were harassed, traumatised...," he said.
According to Currie, he made arrangements for the journalists to be exposed to some of the cooking methods employed by the Maroons at the request of Hugh Dixon, one of the organisers of the annual Trelawny Yam Festival.
"They wanted t
o know about how food was actually cooked here and so I had set up everything. Everything was going on quite nicely when two men came and asked how much money we were charging them. I told them that that was the council's business and they went away then all I know is that one came charging back with a machete and mash up everything, Chop up everything, left, right and centre," he told Chat!
According to Currie, the alleged attacker was one of the contenders for Peddie's post in the upcoming leadership elections constitutionally due later this year.
"He wasn't even born here, he was born in Kingston, went to America and was deported, but because everybody knows his father, we accepted him. Now this," he cried.
Ralston Reid, one of seven contenders vying for Peddie's post in the leadership elections, also condemned the incident.
"It is a bad thing that never should have happened and we condemn it because it makes us look unintelligent. We do not support that sort of behaviour," he said.
Peddie said that the alleged attack resulted in some US$10,000 in damage to the journalists' equipment.
"According to the document that I am looking at right now, a mixer, cables, radio microphones, a transmitter, and igloos were damaged," he said.
In the meantime, both men are appealing to the group of journalists to let them have access to the damaged equipment.
"We reported it to the police, but we need the damaged equipment as evidence so that the police can proceed," said Currie.
It is not immediately clear how many journalists visited Jamaica on account of the project. However, those that the Observer West caught up with on Monday, while expressing great interest in the cuisine, advised that they had been instructed by their employers not to comment on the incident.
Maroon leaders condemn attack on British journalists, pursue perpetrator
Pat Roxborough-Wright
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Maroon leaders were up to yesterday pursuing leads with a view to bringing the perpetrators of the attack, allegedly by one of their own, on three British journalists who were visiting Accompong Town, St Elizabeth on a filming expedition.
"We are expecting certain correspondences right now in order to move forward with the matter because this is a disgrace... and it is not what the Maroons are all about. We are very sorry that it happened and we apologise on their behalf. We just want to condemn the incident and do everything we can to bring this matter to justice," said Council member Melville Currie.
Currie - a deputy of Colonel Sydney Peddie, head of the Maroon Council - had been escorting the journalists when the attack ocurred.
He was close to tears as he recalled the incident.
"Right now my eyes are full of water... when I think of what the journalists went through... they were harassed, traumatised...," he said.
According to Currie, he made arrangements for the journalists to be exposed to some of the cooking methods employed by the Maroons at the request of Hugh Dixon, one of the organisers of the annual Trelawny Yam Festival.
"They wanted t
o know about how food was actually cooked here and so I had set up everything. Everything was going on quite nicely when two men came and asked how much money we were charging them. I told them that that was the council's business and they went away then all I know is that one came charging back with a machete and mash up everything, Chop up everything, left, right and centre," he told Chat!
According to Currie, the alleged attacker was one of the contenders for Peddie's post in the upcoming leadership elections constitutionally due later this year.
"He wasn't even born here, he was born in Kingston, went to America and was deported, but because everybody knows his father, we accepted him. Now this," he cried.
Ralston Reid, one of seven contenders vying for Peddie's post in the leadership elections, also condemned the incident.
"It is a bad thing that never should have happened and we condemn it because it makes us look unintelligent. We do not support that sort of behaviour," he said.
Peddie said that the alleged attack resulted in some US$10,000 in damage to the journalists' equipment.
"According to the document that I am looking at right now, a mixer, cables, radio microphones, a transmitter, and igloos were damaged," he said.
In the meantime, both men are appealing to the group of journalists to let them have access to the damaged equipment.
"We reported it to the police, but we need the damaged equipment as evidence so that the police can proceed," said Currie.
It is not immediately clear how many journalists visited Jamaica on account of the project. However, those that the Observer West caught up with on Monday, while expressing great interest in the cuisine, advised that they had been instructed by their employers not to comment on the incident.
British journalists at Easter Monday's Trelawny yam festival in Hague. (Photo: Horace Hines)
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