NEWS BRIEFS… NEWS BRIEFS… NEWS BRIEFS…
Three injured in hotel fire
TWO guests and one member of staff from the Starfish Resort in Trelawny sought medical treatment yesterday evening after a small fire in the resort’s storage room engulfed upper floors with dense smoke.
All three initially went to the Falmouth Hospital but the two visitors to the island, who are believed to be suffering from smoke inhalation, were later transferred to a private medical facility, the MoBay Hope Hospital in Montego Bay. The staff member who sought treatment is believed to have jumped from the resort’s second floor but attempts to get more details on her condition proved futile last night.
The fire was in the basement of the hotel’s North East wing, which was being used as a storage room.
High turnout at Guild election
There was a high voter turnout at yesterday’s elections of officers for the Guild of Students at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
More than 3,000 students from the six halls of residence had turned out to vote in the elections supervised by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), forcing that body to print additional ballot papers.
Public information officer at the EOJ, Neville Graham said his office had printed over 3,000 ballots for the halls based on the “historical voting pattern of between 1,800 to 2,000 voters”. But the student body, perhaps reflecting the intense campaigning for the positions of guild president, vice-president, treasurer, faculty representatives and the chairmanship of external affairs, games and entertainment and culture, packed the voting booths up to the time the polls were scheduled to close at 7:30 pm.
Counting of ballots started at about 9:00 last night.
Salon robbery
A beauty salon at Barons Plaza in Kingston was Tuesday night held up by a lone gunman and robbed of jewelry and more than $103,000 cash — $85,000 in partner money, $12,000 of the day’s earning and $6,000 belonging to one of the workers.
Cops now charged with conspiracy to extort
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions yesterday changed the charges against the five policemen and an ex-cop accused of attempting to extort US$2.5 million from St Andrew businessman Marvin Wong, from breaches of the Corruption Act to conspiracy to extort funds.
The new charge, laid in connection with the January 28 attempted shakedown, carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Carrington Mahoney, who applied to change the indictment, yesterday said that while the move was in no way extraordinary, the Crown preferred the new charge, which is a common law offence, and makes it easier to secure a conviction against all six defendants.
The accused policemen are constables Omar Francis, Kevin Thompson, Clarence Ducille and Dave Austin; District Constable Ainsworth Williams and a former corporal, Guntley Vickers.