THE St Andrew South Police were up to late yesterday trying to determine the identity of a man, whose rotting body was fished from water in a section of the Sandy Gully in Seaview Gardens, St Andrew.
The body, which was anchored beneath the water, was removed by the Marine Police at about 2:30 pm after several attempts.
According to the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Corporate Communications Unit, the police were summoned to the scene about 11:40 am by fisherfolk who were in the vicinity.
Yesterday, a large crowd gathered in a section of the community called Vietnam, where they had direct view of the attempts by members of the Marine Police team, aided by a civilian, to remove the body from the water.
But some onlookers criticised the police for the length of time it took for them to remove the body, and questioned why they came without a diver.
“The police dem should a dive already and tek out di body, but dem come without dem rubber suit and pretty gloves,” one man was overheard saying.
“Dem yah police yah a joke,” a woman interjected.
Meanwhile, residents told the police that a man, who lived in the community and said to be of unsound mind, had been missing since last Wednesday. They said that they were anxious to find out whether the body was his, but could not identify the body yesterday as the face was badly deteriorated.
“…Him mad and him walk around in the community with a half a cutlass and terrorise people. Him even tek off the roof from him sister house and sell it as scrap metal,” a resident alleged.
Others alleged that the man in question had committed several robberies in the community.
The Seaview Gardens Police are investigating the matter.