One rape, multiple murders mean rocky start for 2012

While some Jamaicans welcomed the start of a new year with joy and good cheer, for others, violence and anguish signalled the beginning of 2012.

This follows a brutal sexual assault on a teenage girl just a few hours into the new year yesterday, and a deadly gun attack which left two men dead.

In the first incident, information reaching The Gleaner is that the teen had just left a party about 3 in the morning, when she was dragged into a section of the Oxford Mall along Darling Street and sexually assaulted by a group of males.

An angry mob converged on Darling Street in West Kingston later yesterday morning as police took into custody three males believed to be involved in the sexual assault.

The Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) confirmed the incident, but declined to provide details.

In the second incident, police report that two men were shot and killed in the community of Salt Spring, St James, in an area known as Ball Ground early yesterday.

The men have been identified as 59-year-old businessman Abka Peterkin and 58-year-old Glendon Bryan, both of Salt Spring.

According to reports, Peterkin picked up Bryan in the Salt Spring area around 7:30 a.m. As the two were travelling along the roadway, two gunmen reportedly walked out into the road and stopped the vehicle.

Peterkin and Bryan were then told to exit the car and made to lie face down. The two were shot in the head.