Suspected suicide in Cherry Gardens

Residents of Cherry Gardens in St Andrew were taken aback on Thursday morning when they saw emergency service vehicles with flashing sirens parked along Millwood Avenue as authorities investigated a suspected suicide in their typically quiet community.

The police and Jamaica Fire Brigade were summoned after a gardener at a nearby property spotted the body of an unidentified male hanging from an ackee tree in the vicinity of a gully that runs beneath Upper Millwood Avenue. It was clad in a black shirt and pants.

The gardener reportedly became suspicious after smelling an odour on Wednesday. He was compelled to make checks early Thursday morning to satisfy his intuition as to whether it was a dead animal.

He stumbled upon the barefooted deceased in an advanced state of decomposition.

Shortly after the police, fire brigade, and forensic investigators arrived, perplexed residents began to converge at the location, trying to figure out what was happening.

“I have never seen anybody in that gully before. It is deep and well kept … . From Wednesday, there was an on-and-off stench, but we had no idea that a dead body was [causing] the foul odour," one of the residents at the scene commented. "Mental health is a serious issue. Some people are going through things they are afraid to speak of.”

There was also heavy chatter in the community WhatsApp groups after The Gleaner first reported that a body had been found and was about to be retrieved.

After some 40 minutes, the body was lifted from the gully and sent to a funeral home.

The St Andrew North police are probing the matter.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com

Get mental help

If you are struggling today or need to talk to someone about your or someone else's mental health, contact the Jamaica Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Helpline at (888) 639-5433.

The helpline is a service provided by Ministry of Health and Wellness, providing mental health support over phone to the Jamaican public.