"I can't even buy a lunch or a bag juice. All now we don't get paid," says ANN-MARIE Scarlett ....Highway 2000 workers toil on despite killings, theft of pay. Scarlett was one of about 70 workers who did not collect their fortnightly pay due to the robbery of the $2-million pay bill and murder of four men

BY KARYL WALKER Editor — Crime/Court Desk walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com  Thursday, October 16, 2014    

ANN-MARIE Scarlett sat on a rock looking quite despondent in her Bowers Wood community in St Catherine on Tuesday.

The woman is employed to wave red and green flags signalling to motorists when to proceed and stop at a section of the Linstead to Moneague leg of Highway 2000.

"I can't even buy a lunch or a bag juice. All now we don't get paid," she told the Jamaica Observer.

Ann-Marie Scarlett

Scarlett was one of about 70 workers who did not collect their fortnightly pay due to the robbery of the $2-million pay bill and murder of four men, three of whom were transporting the money to pay the labourers on Sunday.

Scarlett's hunger was satisfied a few minutes later when another female co-worker was kind enough to buy her a small box of rice and peas and chicken.

"Thanks," she said.

Metres up the hill, the community of Giblatore was on edge.

Residents who opted to leave the safety of their homes had nervous looks on their faces. Few opted to comment on the brutal slayings of Craig Harris, 29; Kirk Foot, 33; Carlton Scott, 43; and Courtney Coulbourne, 42.

Harris, also called 'Bug Head', Scott and Coulborne were travelling in a Mitsubishi Colt with the labourers' wages when they were ambushed by rifle-toting robbers, who peppered the vehicle with bullets before making off with the cash. The gunmen made sure to kill all their victims before escaping in bushes.

Foot was extremely unlucky. He drove up just as the robbery was taking place and the gunmen wasted no time in snuffing out his life, ensuring that no witnesses were left. more