JUNCTION, St Elizabeth — Concerns have resurfaced here about the response to treating the mentally ill, in particular those who are violent in nature.

The concerns have arisen after members of a Manchester family were left to grieve the stone-bashing death of their relative, allegedly at the hands of a man said to be mentally challenged.

Relatives of Rupert Cunningham, 62, told the Jamaica Observer that the hardware worker had stopped on his way home last Tuesday to buy groceries to prepare dinner for his common-law-wife, Molly Laylor, when tragedy struck shortly before 5:00 pm last Tuesday.

“Tuesday morning was the last time she saw him, and she spoke to him Tuesday evening around 3:30 pm. He said he was going to buy salt fish, baked beans and corn meal to cook for dinner. We were told that he already brought those things and was on his way to take a taxi to come home when the person [accused] begged him money and he refused,” Cunningham’s stepdaughter Trissian Brown said last week.

“Me a hold the faith,” a grief-stricken Laylor could only say in reaction to the death of her partner of 15 years.

Brown told the Sunday Observer that her mother, Laylor, was not coping well.

“She is barely eating anything. She is up and down and she will cry now and then. She wakes up in tears,” said Brown while adding that her family remains in shock over the incident.

“We feel very angry. We don’t feel like there is any justice done to it because even the person who did that to him, the fact that he didn’t know him makes it even worse,” she said.

The accused was caught by residents on Wednesday and handed over to the police.

Brown described her stepfather as family-oriented and a breadwinner for his household in Watson Hill, Downs, Manchester.

“He was a good and caring man, always bringing food for us. And he took care of our kids, who he called his grandchildren, and would always bring snacks for them on Friday evening. When he comes home in the evenings he always has something carrying with him,” said Brown.

The Sunday Observer was told that Cunningham was employed at Parchment Hardware in Southfield, St Elizabeth.

“He didn’t talk much to anyone on the road. When you see him through Junction town he is just moving. He was humble. He wasn’t talkative. He would reach work long before it even starts. He was the first one in at work,” Brown said.

“His co-workers said on Tuesday evening when he died, it was the latest he ever left work,” she added.

Two councillors who represent bordering municipal divisions in Manchester and St Elizabeth have called for a better response regarding treating the mentally ill on the streets.

Councillor Dalton Brown (People’s National Party, Alligator Pond Division) said the incident was “unfortunate”.

“My people — from Alligator Pond to Gutters — go to Junction more than they come into Mandeville. Even though Junction is in St Elizabeth, it is one of our primary towns. In 2019 one of these same persons of unsound mind went into the Junction Police Station and removed police uniforms and was out on the road doing traffic duties. Now we have this fatal attack,” said councillor Brown.

Councillor Layton Smith (PNP, Myersville Division) said he has been pointing to the security risks associated with some mentally challenged people on the streets of St Elizabeth.

“What I can say is that it is sad. And what took place in Junction on Tuesday, I have been highlighting it at council meetings for over a year now the concern that we have within the parish when it comes to the mentally challenged persons — Junction, Nain, Santa Cruz, Black River — all those areas with mentally challenged persons. They are all on the street and the sad thing about it is this: Whenever any incident occurs and you go to the police, they send you to the Ministry of Health. When you go to the Ministry of Health you are sent back to the police — so they are playing tug of war. Nobody wants to take responsibility to get these guys off the street,” Smith said.

The thorny issue of how to deal with mentally ill people suspected of having violent tendencies was a hot topic at the monthly meeting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation last November.

Then head of the St Elizabeth police, Superintendent Kenneth Chin told the meeting that, contrary to popular opinion, the police have no power under the Mental Health Act to simply go and arrest or accost people based upon the ‘say so’ of citizens. While the police are empowered to assist and provide security for medical personnel in the execution of their duties, the person said to be mentally ill can only be forcefully taken into custody if the person commits a crime, Chin explained.

In cases where threats are allegedly made, the police are only empowered to warn the accused person, Chin said.

“The police have no power to detain or forcefully take someone to get medical attention because the Act says that the police’s responsibility, where the person has not committed an offence, is to accompany the person,” Chin said then.

Smith remains adamant that more can be done to assist in getting the necessary care for the mentally challenged on the streets.

“The ministry went as far to build a drop-in centre in Black River but it is not adequate because it only accommodates them in the day for a meal, a shower, and change of clothes; when it comes to the night they are back on the street. We need somewhere in the parish, a building to house these mentally challenged persons so you can have the right doctor, nurse there to take care of them, give them their medication, so that they can be rehabilitated and reintegrated back into society,” he said.

“However, they are left on the road to do whatever they want to do. After that incident in Junction on Tuesday I was coming through Santa Cruz on Wednesday and saw a mentally challenged young man with his two hands filled with stones. People had to be running from him and no police in sight to take him away or even the stones from him; it is causing a lot of panic on the streets,” added Smith.

Regional director of the Southern Regional Health Authority Michael Bent said a mental health team mainly serves registered patients.

“We have some people who are registered patients so they come to our clinics by appointment. And we have a response team who people will call; the team will be dispatched and go into the communities to give assistance,” he said on Friday.

“You don’t necessarily know of all the cases. Somebody might have a situation where they are not on our register and they are on the street,” added Bent.

He said the mental health team works “round the clock” and said talks were planned to discuss matters including dealing with the mentally challenged through the assistance of the police.

“Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic we had a quarterly meeting with the High Command in [Police] Area Three, and just last month we recommenced that by meeting with Acting Assistant Superintendent of Police Glenford Miller. We have a meeting planned for July 5. These are some of the things [to determine] how we collaborate better in terms of mental issues, among other things,” said Miller.

Chair of the Mandeville-based Candle in the Dark Empowerment Centre, Wendy Freckleton is calling on the Government to establish a transitional facility in the southern region.

“I would at this point call on the Government, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Local Government to create a transitional village, somewhere the mentally challenged can be housed. We could set up a concept similar to the deaf village where persons who are mentally challenged, especially those who have been abandoned on the streets, could go to and learn how to once again become independent members of the society,” she aid.

“Every parish doesn’t need one. St Elizabeth is just next door so, chances are, we could do one for both parishes where we can cater for these people because they too are in need,” Freckleton reasoned.