Tredegar Park lives on the edge
Published:Sunday | August 15, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
Yesterday, a group of women, with horror and dread etched on their faces, observed a team of police and soldiers patrol the Tredegar Park, St Catherine, community.
That, they said, gave them little comfort, as experience has taught that as soon the security forces leave the streets, once again, they would be at the mercy of marauding gunmen.
"Me don't have anywhere to go, but me have fi move out. This is enough!" a clearly frustrated woman told The Sunday Gleaner last Friday.
"We are tired of the constant killings. It is really not fair to those of us who are not involved in the violence," another woman said.
She was among the many persons gathered in the section of Tredegar Park known as Monkey Town on Friday to mourn the gruesome killing of eight of their own.
For the young woman, and several of her neighbours, Friday's fatal shooting of five males and three females, including an 11-year-old girl, was one killing too many, or as one woman put it, "the final nail in the coffin of a community which was once a model for others around".
"Me can't tek no more. Me have fi move out of here," said the young lady, with tears streaming down her face.
"'T Park' never stay like this and it no look like it can ever come back," said an elderly lady who was also in mourning.
Drastic change
She has lived in Tredegar Park for most of her 68 years and remembers the days when doors were left open all night and there was nothing separating the residents of the community from those in the neighbouring community of Gravel Heights.
"Is just about seven years now it change, and from then, the killings can't done," the elderly woman added. And what a bloody seven years it has been!
On Friday, some residents remembered the morning of September 4, 2008, when they woke to find the head of 21-year-old Lionel Williams, otherwise called 'Nanny Boy', on the Tredegar Park main road.
Other residents remembered 43-year-old Vivian Douglas, who was also killed in the community
For some, the killing of Romel Skully, 60, businessman, otherwise called 'Oyster', and Marcus Tulloch, 35, otherwise called 'Simon', was fresh in their minds.
But every resident, once they were older than seven years old, had a story to tell about a murder victim.
Most of the residents refused to speak about the source of the conflict, but one elderly woman voiced what everyone knew was true: "A politics cause all of this."
But for Tredegar Park and Gravel Heights in east central St Catherine, this is more than the usual party politics.
Tredegar Park is a traditional Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) stronghold. The neighbouring Gravel Heights is a People's National Party (PNP) stronghold.
For years, residents of the two communities existed with only minor political skirmishes centred around election time.
Criminal elements
Then, the two major criminal gangs which operate out of St Catherine moved into the area.
The JLP-aligned One Order gang established its presence in Tredegar Park, and the PNP-linked Clansman gang set up base in Gravel Heights.
With the gangsters came the guns, the fire bombings and the killings, each one more brutal and heartless than the other.
At the height of the killings in 2008, the police reported that one of the splinter gangs was led by two of the most notorious killers in St Catherine: 'Negus', or 'Handsome', led the One Order gangsters in Tredegar Park, while 'James Hinds', or 'James Bond', led the Clansman criminals in Gravel Heights.
James Hinds was killed by the police in March last year, while Negus is still on the run, although it is believed that he has fled the Tredegar Park community.
His space at the top of the pack has reportedly been taken by Fitz Donigal, also called 'Killie Killie', who was recently arrested by the police and is facing multiple charges.
The security forces have accepted that the area is in need of special attention and once erected a temporary army post in the area.
That has been followed by periodic curfews, cordons and searches and raids. But still, the criminals operate with seeming impunity.
The police have reported that two men believed involved in Friday's massacre were fatally shot, even though controversy has dogged that report.
A third man is also in police custody after he turned up at hospital with gunshot wounds.
Yesterday, the search continued for the other killers, as the security forces imposed curfews around Tredegar Park, Gravel Heights and neighbouring communities.
The killings have received widespread condemnation from a society stunned by the savagery.
Among those who condemned the killings was Minister of National Security Dwight Nelson who reacted with fury at what he described as the unbridled brutality and the murderous acts perpetrated on the people of Tredegar Park.
Lack of respect
Nelson described the brutality of the rampaging hoodlums as a brazen demonstration of their lack of basic respect for the sanctity of life, and the extent that they would go to to create mayhem in the society.
Nelson said he was aghast at the new level of brutality to which merciless gangsters have descended and declared that they have no place in civil society.
He called on every Jamaican to rally around the Government to root out the barbarity and vileness that seek to overwhelm sections of society.
According to Nelson, the Government had signalled that it was prepared to go the extra mile and beyond to ensure that these mercenaries no longer roamed free.
For his part, Opposition Spokesman on National Security Peter Bunting expressed hope that the killers would be caught quickly.
"The Greater Spanish Town area is of great concern, given its history of ongoing feuds between criminal gangs.
"The PNP is calling on the security forces to be thorough and vigorous in lawfully restoring calm to the community. We are also asking the citizens to exercise caution after dark, to secure their premises, and to cooperate with the police," Bunting said.