Investigations ongoing into 9-y-o Gabriel King’s murder: police
Published:Sunday | March 13, 2022 | 12:10 AM
Investigators are now awaiting the forensic results from the crime scene where nine-year-old Gabriel King was found dead in the rear of his mother’s stolen motor car seven weeks ago in St James. After which a file will be sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for advice.
“There is an investigative file that is advanced. There are attorneys involved and they (investigators) are now awaiting the forensic evidence to get guidance from the DPP’s office,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Clifford Chambers, head of police Area One, told The Sunday Gleaner on Thursday. “There is a full-blown investigation that is ongoing.”
However, ACP Chambers would not provide any other details on the investigation, as the matter was not being handled by sleuths under his command.
The heartless act, which drew national outrage, occurred on Thursday, January 13, about 9 a.m., police reports stated, when Gabriel and his mother, Amoi Leon Issa, were travelling in her Audi motor car along the Tucker main road, towards downtown Montego Bay.
Reports are that she slowed to manoeuvre some potholes in the roadway, when a man approached her vehicle, slapped her in the face, dragged her from the car and drove off with her autistic child in the back seat.
The police were alerted and the vehicle was later found abandoned off the Fairfield main road with the child’s body lying on the back seat of the car, his throat slashed.
But the police said they have been experiencing challenges during their probe, which, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police in Charge of Crime, Fitz Bailey, forced the cops “to be doing some extraordinary things to get the support that they need”.
The criminal investigators have since collected statements from the stepfather of the deceased child, Mike Issa; the mother, Leon Issa; business associates of the couple, as well as the family driver, gardener and housekeeper.
Gabriel’s biological father, who resides overseas, was also interviewed.
When contacted by The Sunday Gleaner, Mike Issa declined to comment.
The Sunday Gleaner understands that young Gabriel’s body was cremated on Friday, March 4.