BY KARYL WALKER Editor — Crime/Court Desk walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com Sunday, July 13, 2014
THE St Andrew Central police have intensified their search for a homosexual man known to frequent the Shoemaker Gully at Trafalgar Road in New Kingston in relation to the murder of a man in May.
The fugitive has been identified as Jevaughn Francis, also called ‘Pebbles’.
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| Gays living in Shoemaker Gully hold an animated discussion. |
Police said that in the early hours of Sunday May 18 this year, a man was using his cellular phone while walking by the spot, now called the ‘Gay Bridge’, when he was attacked and dragged into the gully and stabbed repeatedly after he resisted being robbed.
According to Commander Christopher Murdock, who is in charge of the New Kingston Police Post, the man managed to flee through one of several tunnels in the gully before emerging on Dumfries Road where he was rescued by members of a police team.
The victim died the following day but was able to provide a description of the man who robbed and stabbed him.
“He spoke with the officers and described the man who attacked and his description of them fit Francis,” Murdock told the Jamaica Observer.
The dead man has been identified as 18-year-old Rasheed Samuda of Myers Street in Kingston 12.
Francis is also wanted for several robberies committed in the New Kingston area at nights.
The night before the fatal attack, another man who was walking past the gay bridge was also attacked and stabbed after he resisted attempts by two men to steal his cellular phone.
“The man was walking by using his phone when he felt someone hit the phone out of his hand and when he tried to resist he was stabbed in the arm. He kicked the person and was stabbed in the leg,” Murdock said.
“He almost died on us because the main vein in his arm was severed and he was bleeding heavily. His description of the men who robbed him fit a man known as Ramon Francis, also called ‘Teetus’ or ‘Ishana’,” he added.
Francis was taken into custody in connection with the incident.
Foreign media and gay lobbyists portray the men as the victims of homophobic attacks. However, the police say that the men who live and hang out at the Shoemaker Gully are responsible for serious crimes, ranging from murder, shootings, robberies, unlawful wounding, assault, house break-ins, car break-ins, larceny to malicious destruction of property.
“They are known to have lured people in their environment and robbed them. If you resist the result can be deadly,” a senior cop said.
Weeks ago an overseas-based pilot who had read about the plight of the homeless gays who were living in gully, decided to visit the area to talk with them and take pictures of the gay men, but to his surprise he was attacked by men armed with knives and other implements who relieved him of his camera and other valuables and ordered him to leave the area hastily.
The men who often dress in drag and pose as prostitutes, live subnormal lives and according to the police, pose a serious threat to the New Kingston environment.
The St Andrew Central police say that between December 2013 and May this year 45 major crimes have been reported in the New Kingston area, most of them believed to be committed by the gays who reside in the gully.
The crimes include three murders, two shootings, 24 robberies, 11 break-ins and four larcenies.
Police say that they have strong evidence that more than 90 per cent of the robberies were perpetrated by persons purported to be members of the gay community.
Residents of the nearby Trafalgar Park say they are being held under siege by some of the gay men who prey on their homes and rob them with impunity.
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| The gay men are seemingly preparing themselves for rest. |
One resident said he suffered a broken jaw as a result of resisting robbers.
“I was walking home one evening and they tried to rob me and I resisted. They hit me in the face with a blunt object and broke my jaw. I had to undergo surgery to repair my face. It was very painful,” the man said.
Other residents said that their homes and cars were broken into regularly and the thieves seem to be targeting laptops, tablets and cellular phones although one homeowner reported losing a flat-screen television set and other appliances.
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The Israeli military says it's doing its utmost to spare civilians by urging residents to leave areas that are about to be shelled or bombed as Hamas targets. It accuses the Islamic militants of using civilians as human shields by firing rockets from civilian areas.
