News

THE FATHER of a 14-year-old Jamaican boy is still in shock today following reports that his son murdered his mother and his three siblings in Staten Island, New York, before killing himself.

United States investigators say the boy, identified as Jamaican C.J. Jones, slashed the throats of at least two of his younger siblings before cutting his own throat and setting fire to his family's apartment on Thursday.

But C.J.'s father, Earlston Raymond, said he did not believe his son had committed the crime.

He told The Gleaner/Power 106 News Centre yesterday that there were clear signs that something had been going wrong with C.J.'s mother, Leisha Jones.

US media report that C.J. was found in the back bedroom of his family's Port Richmond apartment with a straight-edge razor lodged under his body.

They also report that although flames had ravaged the home and badly burned the corpses, investigators were able to determine that the throats of C.J.'s two sisters, 10-year-old Britanny and seven-year-old Melony had been slashed.

Staten Island police say the dead girls were found in the charred living room near the body of their mother, 33-year-old Leisha Jones.

C.J.'s two-year-old brother Jermaine was alive at the time he was found, but he later died at hospital.