Accountant found shot dead in Salt River, Clarendon

The body of an accountant was found along the Salt River road in Clarendon on Thursday morning. The body with bullet wounds was identified as that of Esron Laing. The discovery was made by residents sometime after 6:00 a.m. Reports were that Laing was last seen alive when he left a party in Portland Cottage in the parish earlier in the morning in the company of a woman. The victim’s motor vehicle was found a short distance from his body.

Teen sentenced to life in prison for murder of Clarendon businessman

A Clarendon teen who was charged with the February 2017 murder of a businessman at his cook shop, at Hayes in the parish, was on Monday sentenced to life in prison. Shevanne Harris, 19, will have to serve 21 years before he will be eligible for parole. Harris was also sentenced by High Court Judge Courtney Day to five years for illegal possession of firearm and three years for the illegal possession of ammunition. The gun and ammunition charges are to run consecutively to the murder sentence. Harris had pleaded guilty to the offences on January 11 but his sentencing was postponed until Monday to facilitate a social enquiry report. According to lead prosecutor, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Andrea Martin Swaby, on February 1 last year at approximately 4:30 pm, Barrington Herdsman was shot in his head as he sat outside his business place inside the Newton Plaza in Hayes. His widow, who was the sole eyewitness, gave a statement in which she said her husband was attacked shortly after counting the day’s sales and was sitting outside on a stool. She said she saw a man enter the business place and looked around before pulling a firearm from his waistband and then walking out of the shop towards her husband. She said, on reaching her husband, the man pointed the gun to the back of his head and fired several shots. He then fled the scene in the direction of Vere Technical High School. Herdsman was rushed to the May Pen Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Harris was held in May Pen on Labour Day, May 23, more than three months after the shooting. He was reportedly found with a Glock pistol with a magazine containing fifteen 9mm rounds.