Slain woman’s brother speaks

[Lazie]

Clive Clarke, brother of 47-year-old Maureen Bennett, is disputing the police’s version of why his sister was killed in Torrington Park on Thursday.


“Them kill mi sister because them say me is a informer to police. Some little boy, 14, 15, 16-year-old, rise up and a walk around the community and all want tell people when to come off the street and me and some other people rebel,” he said, adding that the situation has been ongoing for more than three years.


Police reported that the gunmen had gone in search of Bennett’s brother, but when they did not find him, they killed his sister and her seven-year-old daughter. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald yesterday, Clarke, while admitting that he was indirectly responsible for the deaths, rubbished the allegation that he was a reputed area leader and that the gunmen had gone in search of him.


“Nothing no go so, because me no live a mi sister house. Me no eat a mi sister house, mi no sleep a mi sister house, so them couldn’t go there a look for me. People just a talk things but them no know nothing,” Clarke said.


He was adamant that his opposition to the gunmen was at the root of the dispute. Clarke said he was not a criminal and he was not hiding from either gunmen or the police.


“Mi a no criminal, me naah hide from police, but them want turn me inna criminal now because them kill off mi people them,” a very callous Clarke said.


He said since he has returned from the United States, where he had been living, he has tried to steer himself clear of criminal activities, but the recent tragedy has been overbearing on his emotions.


“Me never come back and a keep no gunman friend. Me company that me get involved with a big people company. Me naah walk and kill people and people kill me sister and mi niece,” Clarke said angrily.


He said whatever the conflict he had with the gunmen, his family should never have been targeted, and did not mince words in reminding the gunmen that they have families too.


“If a guy a hunt me, weh you a trouble me family for?” Clarke questioned. “Them must remember that them have people too,” he said. Clarke said Bennett was his only sister and Skyers was his favourite niece.


“A mi sister weh mi love so much and a mi best niece. Every morning she come around me yard before she go to school and if mi a sleep, she wake me up,” Clarke said.


He said he has not been able to eat since the tragedy. “Mi no eat from me sister dead. A just pure smoke me a smoke and drink. Me no have no appetite for food,” he said.


Clarke, who said he lost a brother in the United States just two weeks ago and recently lost a friend to violence, said his life has been plunged into the depths of hopelessness.


“Three murder in one month and none a them a no natural cause, a gunshot! Me have it up to me neck,” he said.


The recurring violence and deaths, he said, has left him a very hardened man.


“Them go kill me people them. Right now mi is a stone man. Mi heart harden. Mi life no come like nothing no more,” Clarke said, adding that others have been killed and he is prepared for anything.


This is precisely the reason there are so many incidents of ‘blood for blood’, but “me a try hold the peace as long as me can.”

[Lazie]

Hellish terror grips Torrington Park
By Kimmo Matthews
Staff Reporter

The Joe Benbow gang’s reign of terror over sections of the West Kingston Police Division has resulted in an exodus of residents from several communities, especially the South St. Andrew PNP enclave of Torrington Park.


This is the latest area where the criminals have unleashed a hellish terror, murdering more than three persons over the past few days, and leaving hundreds of others in fear for their lives.


Named off the area leader now in custody at the Horizon Remand Centre in Kingston, the gang’s latest set of gruesome executions took place last Thursday and left residents gripped in fear as 47-year-old Maureen Bennett and her seven-year-old daughter, Damone Skyers, were mercilessly burnt alive in their house in the troubled housing scheme


Police reported that at about 2:30 a.m., a group of gunmen invaded the community in search of Clive Clarke, otherwise called “Py-Q”. When he was not found, they went to Clarke’s sister’s house.


The men fired several shots inside the house before setting it ablaze with Molotov cocktail bombs. Not even the cries for help from the young girl deterred the heartless criminals from carrying out their act of terror.`

Empty houses tell the tale
Now days after the incident, a heavy police presence has taken over the area, but in some sections all that remain are empty houses, grieving faces and bullet-riddled buildings, as some residents fled the area where further mayhem is anticipated.


Police believe the latest set of killings by the group was a reprisal for another attack one week ago, when the house belonging to the mother of Joe Benbow was attacked. A 67-year-old senior citizen died in that attack.


“Is 19 years now since I live in this community and it is the worst I ever feel. I don’t think I going to stay,” said a 67-year-old woman who spoke to the Sunday Herald on tour of the area last week.


“I have lived in this community for so many years and this is the worst I ever see the area. The man them no have no heart. It is the first inna my life I hear so much gunshot,” said a male resident.


“My word, when the gunshot them explode from dem deh gun dem bwoy a buss, the windows on me little one-room house rattle like rattler snake. A hide me have to hide under me bed in fear,” he said.


A few chains away from where the group was talking, 66-year-old Linda Pursela, the mother of the 47-year-old who was murdered, held her head in her hands. She was trying to wash a few pieces of clothing, but in between scrubs, she stops to think long and hard.


“I never know it would come to this,” she said, looking in the distance with a sad expression on her face.


She reminisced on her daughter’s last visit. “It was just several hours before them murder har that she ( daughter) come look for me,” said the mother between sobs. “I feel like I don’t want stay here. I spent most of my life in this community, but things not looking clear,” she said.


Nevertheless, while persons like Pursela are contemplating leaving the area, there are others who said they could not run away.


“Friend, all of my life savings dey here so inno. Me spend more than a million dollars on my house already and all now it caan finish. Where me going to run go?” asked a man who did not want his name to be published.


Several others supported his views. “Where me going to run go? Mi raise me three children in this community, this is all the life I know, and to go take up me self say me a start all over, I don’t think I have the strength to do it,” another man said.


As the man spoke, a gentle breeze blew by, as two heavy armoured police vehicles rumbled by. A mongrel dog, getting into the mix, ran swiftly across the street in the direction of the burnt remains of what was once the house of Skyers.


A few minutes later, the officer in charge of crime, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mark Shields, arrived in the community, but not even his presence could convince 64-year-old Ida Maze* that things would be ok.


“Things might look safe now but what happen when the nights approach. When these criminal terrorist come out like vampires, not even the police can help us,” she said.


“All these police officers come do now, based on how these criminals operate, is to come move the body. That is the work of Madden’s, not the police, but that is all me see the police doing,” Maze said.

Origin of the violence
Questions to ascertain the origin of the deadly war in sections of the community were met with mixed reactions and blame games, as residents from each warring side pointed fingers across the border lines.


What was however sure, according to a number of persons in the area, was that since the start of this year, more than 20 persons have lost their lives in the area, which is part of the West Kingston Police Division.


Head of the division, Superintendent Delroy Hewitt, told the Sunday Herald that his teams of officers were working around the clock to bring the criminals to justice. So far, the law officers have pointed to the men behind the latest attacks in the housing scheme as Craig Hall, also called “Craigy”, who is said to be a brother of Joe Benbow; Ryan Smith, otherwise called “Baller”; a man known only as “Pup”; Ezekiel Thomas, otherwise called “Bully”; and a man known only as “Dwight”.


The invaders were said to be an offshoot of warring factions within Torrington Park along with outside assistance.