Murdered UK diplomat

[Sickko]

I was stunned when I heard John Terry, Sir John, to me had been murdered.

I got a call from the Americas editor of the Sun while I was in Philly and he was asking me for a story on 'the big murder' in MoBay but I told him I was out of the island and reffered him to a colleague.

It was not after I hung up I realised I had not even asked him who was the victim, it was later when I logged on to the Observer's breaking news section that I saw who it was and was shocked and surprised to say the least.

I have known Sir John for years and had no clue he had a wife and children in Kingston but the homophobia aside, I guess it was an open secret he was gay but as far as I know he was well liked by all who knew him.

Cant speak for everyone but I have never even heard anyone used any of the usual ugly vernacular towards him...

But word on the street is that the young man who they suspect was a regular visitor, known to the neighbours and will he held soon.

They say they saw him hurrying away from the house and quickly got into a taxi and left the area.

The police are not saying this in public but they say it has all the marks of being a lovers spat gone bad.

Sir John was a very nice man and he will be missed.

[Historian]

Effects on Jamaica?

I was stunned when I heard John Terry, Sir John, to me had been murdered.

I’m sure you are correct in stating that he was “well liked by all who knew him.” Certainly the photographs that I’ve seen give the impression that John Terry was a personable, agreeable and likeable man; in other words, a nice person.

I’ve so far not commented here on this ugly development for the simple reason that, as usual, so many Jamaicans have missed the big picture. The most important thing here is not John Terry’s personal life (who the hell really cares if he was gay?), but rather, the possible effects of this high profile homicide on the country as a whole.

Unlike several members of this forum, I do not believe that Jamaica will keep bouncing back from one murder of an expatriate or tourist after another! Certainly the last thing that Ed Bartlett, or any well thinking Jamaican within and outside of Jamaica would want is for there to be travel warnings and travel restrictions from North America or Europe! But if we keep murdering foreigners, then this is precisely what will eventually happen.

Of course, someone on this forum is going to see my statements and my use of exclamation signs and post somewhere in this thread that I’m making a “panic reaction”! Whatever.

The simple but sad fact is that Jamaica, right now, is going through a period that will either hasten our already obvious downward slide to the “Failed State” scenario of our CARICOM neighbors Haiti and Guyana, or else bring out in us, for the first time since independence, a level of strength that will take us to the very heights that we should have been long ago! On the economic forum, Jamaica is on the verge of returning to the IMF following failed economic policies while on the social front, we have the request from the US authorities for the extradition of a major social figure (Tivoli Garden’s celebrity figure Dudus). And these are just two of the many immense myriad social and economic problems already facing our beleaguered country.

But back to the matter of this British diplomat’s murder. Many years ago, Mosiah asked a question as to whether the murder of a tourist was more important than that of a black Jamaican (these, were, of course, not Mosiah’s exact words). My answer then, as it is now, is that we cannot equate the two, as the murder of a foreigner, particularly a high-profile person, can bring immense negative consequences to Jamaica! The fact that he is allegedly a homosexual will simply add fuel to the fire, despite the fact that no Jamaican believes that this was a hate crime.

Let’s hope that, like the recent tourist murder, this one eventually disappears without any major consequence.

[Gamma]

historian...you are correct in many respects. there must be a backlash..however may i ask a question....do you think that the mischaracterization as a hate crime is something that should be overlooked with a simple "a murder is a murder"? afterall this is how it has been reported in the international media and THAT is what has made the man's personal life an issue!

no one is overlooking or condoning the heinous act, but does that mean that the truth becomes irrelevant?

[Sickko]

Terry's murder no hate crime, say police


Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Jamaican police have rubbished claims by sections of the British media and gays rights activists that the killing of British diplomat, John Terry, was a homophobic attack.
TERRY. found strangled in his house
Terry was found strangled in his house at Mount Carey, just outside the tourist mecca of Montego Bay, St James on Thursday. His nude body was wrapped in a sheet and Scene Of Crime detectives discovered a handwritten note in the four-bedroom house, which allegedly stated the reason why Terry met his demise.
Police said the letter suggested that the crime may have been the end result of a lovers' spat.
Head of Serious and Organised Crime, Assistant Commissioner Les Green, said the evidence pointed away from a hate crime.
"I don't think it is a homophobic attack, although it's been run in the UK press. It isn't consistent with the information that we have. It is unlikely," Green told the Sunday Observer.
Residents of Mount Carey told police and reporters that a young man was seen running from Terry's home and had asked for directions to take a taxi into Montego Bay.
Crime scene experts have reported that the evidence at Terry's home would suggest that he knew his attacker and had possibly let his attacker inside the confines of his home.
There was no sign of forced entry and neighbours reported seeing a young black man in his company in the days leading up to his murder.
Jamaica has long been lambasted by the gay community for its perceived intolerance of the gay lifestyle, which is often exacerbated by the anti-gay lyrics of some dancehall artistes.
But according to Green, while there have been attacks against homosexuals, few have ended in death.
"There have been attacks mainly in the Corporate Area but they have never ended in murder. There are openly gay people in Jamaica and they live quite openly and mingle freely," Green said.
Police statistics show that the vast majority of gays who die violently in Jamaica are victims of crimes of passion. The murders are almost always carried out in the same fashion.
Most of the victims are found in the nude and their bodies bear multiple stab wounds and slashed throats. In some cases the victims were dismembered.
The most high-profile gay man to be killed in Jamaica was trade ambassador and special envoy of Jamaica, Peter King.
In March 2006, King's body was found wrapped in a sheet in his bedroom at his Waterloo Road home in St Andrew. Investigators said the body bore multiple stab wounds, a slashed throat and was grotesquely mutilated.
Police said there were no signs of forced entry and seized several digital video discs and video cassettes which they said contained recordings of King's jousts with his lovers.
A year after King's murder police held Sheldon Pusey in Oracabessa, St Mary and charged him with murder. The cops said Pusey, also called 'Brown Man', was one of six men who attended a small party King held at his home on the night of his murder.
During the trial, several witnesses said King and Pusey were strutting about the residence in shorts, socks and sandals and hinted that they were involved in an intimate relationship.
In March this year, Pusey was sentenced to 15 years after being found guilty of manslaughter.
Two years before King's murder, gay rights activist and founder of the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals and Gays (JFLAG), Brian Williamson was found stabbed to death in his Haughton Avenue apartment in St Andrew.
Like King, Williamson's body was badly mutilated with multiple chop and stab wounds. Again the police reported that there were no signs of forced entry although his room was ransacked and a safe believed to contain money was missing.

[Muadib]

"I don't think it is a homophobic attack, although it's been run in the UK press. It isn't consistent with the information that we have. It is unlikely," Green told the Sunday Observer

Damage control.. the JCF have their instructions.

"We have homophobia, just not the violent kind"

LOL !! Head in sand dem call it.. dem bettah careful wid dat.. next ting a B@ttyman walk by...

LOL !!