Ewarton in shock as 75-y-o’s throat slashed
Published:Tuesday | September 7, 2021 | 12:10 AMRasbert Turner/Gleaner Writer
When Glenroy Brown took his 75-year-old mother, Anita Brown, to be vaccinated against COVID-19 last Friday, he believed he had given her insurance against severe illness and death and had already started making arrangements for her to get the second jab.
But it was a criminal – and not the coronavirus – that eventually snuffed out her life.
The septuagenarian’s body, with the throat slashed, was found in a pool of blood in her living room in Ewarton, St Catherine, around 8 a.m. on Monday.
“When I spoke to my mother yesterday (September 5), she was upbeat and happy. I didn’t expect this wicked act,” said Mr Brown.
“I am the second to last child, but I feel as if I am bearing all the pains for my other siblings.”
‘Community is shaken’
As news of Brown’s death spread throughout the quiet rural community of Cotton Piece, residents ignored the no-movement rule on a second consecutive day of lockdowns to visit the crime scene.
“The community is shaken badly by this murder,” Marlene Trowers told The Gleaner.
“I know her as ‘Anni B’ and I always see her working around the yard or inside the shop. This really hit home deeply,” lamented Trowers.
Daughter-in-law Laura Brown recalled Anni B’s philanthropy in hosting treats for children.
“I can remember how she would be tending to her chickens or cleaning the land to plant crops,” she said.
Barrington Clarke had sounded an alarm when he discovered Brown’s body. On Monday afternoon, he was still in shock at the brutal death.
“Mi still frighten when mi see di body pon di floor,” Clarke told The Gleaner. “I still can’t believe, as she was mi good friend and now dem kill har.”
Investigations are under way to ascertain the motive behind Brown’s murder.
The St Catherine North police have recorded a near 16 per cent decline in murders year-on-year.
As at August 28, twenty-six persons aged 65 and over were murdered in Jamaica.
Murders have declined by almost 16 per cent in the St Catherine North Police Division, year-on-year. Sixty-five people were killed in the division as at August 28, twelve fewer than the 77 slain for the corresponding period in 2020.
Nationally, murders have risen 9.7 per cent from 852 in 2020 to 935 in 2021.