News

JUNGLE JUSTICE

( left - right ) Marvin King and George Brown - contributed photos

JUNGLE JUSTICE WAS delivered in Federal Gardens, St. Andrew on Saturday, when a 21-year-old man was shot dead moments after stabbing his 54-year-old neighbour to death.

Marvin King, who is believed to be of unsound mind, stabbed and killed George 'Curro' Brown, outside Brown's home on Third Street. Moments later, gunshots rang out in the community and King was discovered to have been shot.

Brown was killed on his birthday and his family said this was the last thing they expected. His wife, Pauline, said she does not know why King killed her husband, however, he had been harassing Brown while he was at a birthday party. "I heard that he has been calling my husband the P word and my husband get vex and ask him weh him want to do," she said.

Brown said her husband went to King's mother, Pauline Bennett and told her to warn her son to leave him alone. But King later followed Brown to his gate and stabbed him several times. "I was inside the house dosing away when mi next door neighbour called seh 'Janet, see Curro drop down like him dead,' " she said. Brown died while undergoing treatment.

Too weak

Bennett said she was at home when a neighbour told her her son had stabbed a man to death. "I didn't come out because mi get weak," she said. An hour after Bennett's daughter told her the news, King was shot. She rushed out to get a taxi, however, she could not find any that was willing to take her youngest child to hospital.

Bennett said she went to the Denham Town Police Station where she got police officers to go for her son to take him to hospital. "When I went down back, I did not see him and dem seh dem put him on a hand cart and gone wid him a hospital and dem gawn done West Road," Bennett said.

But King never made it to the hospital. He was found on the hand cart on West Road. Police reports confirmed the residents' statements about the incident.

Bennett said her son was diagnosed with mental problems in 2003 and the doctor told her it was due to his abuse of marijuana. She said he was given medication which he took twice a day, however on Saturday he had only taken the morning dosage.

In the meantime, both families continue to mourn the loss of their loved ones. Mrs. Brown said she does not know how she will cope because her husband was the sole bread winner in the family which includes five children and a grandchild. "It shocked us because I wasn't looking for this," she said.