Gunmen terrorise Ramble residents
March 13, 2008
The controversy surrounding the new Royale Rest Cemetery in Burnt Ground, Hanover, appears to have taken another twist on Tuesday night when gunmen shot up several houses in the area following a meeting between residents and Health and Environment Minister Rudyard Spencer.
According to reports reaching The Gleaner, about 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, unknown gunmen invaded the Shettlewood community and shot up several homes, injuring one person in the process. A young woman who got caught in the melee was reportedly abducted by the gunmen and taken away and raped.
"It would appear that some people did not like the fact that we had a good meeting with the minister," said East Hanover Member of Parliament, Dr D.K. Duncan, who was in attendance at the meeting. Duncan has been supporting the residents' position. "What happened here shows clearly what we are up against," he said.
Delapenha's Funeral Home has distanced itself from the shooting incidents. When contacted yesterday for a response to the shootings, Marcia Delapenha, a director at the funeral home, told The Gleaner that, "All we know is what we have heard on the radio. We were not invited to the meeting and we were not there."
The police have not made a link between the meeting and the shootings but said the matter was being investigated.
Report incomplete and flawed
In the meeting held at the Shettlewood Baptist Church, residents reportedly told Spencer that the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report, which was presented to him by National Environmental Planning Agency (NEPA), which he signed off on in January, was both incomplete and flawed. The EIA effectively gave the operators of the cemetery, Delapenha Funeral Home, clearance to start burying bodies at Royale Rest.
While congratulating the residents for what he said was their "commitment in defending what you believed in", the health minister made it quite clear that "I am not here to argue about who is right and who is wrong but to listen to and address your concerns."...
Author: Adrian Frater
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
