KD KNIGHT PAN DI US SAILOR CASE

THE family of the Jamaican-born retired member of the US Navy who was shot and injured on the Portmore Toll Road, say they have retained the services of noted attorney-at-law KD Knight as they move a step closer to taking legal action against a security company whose employee, they claim, shot the father of five, leaving him paralysed.

“We have retained the services of KD Knight in this matter as we move to get some sort of justice out of this unfortunate matter,” Paulette Jones, mother of retired Petty Officer Trevor Delano Jones Jr, told the Jamaica Observer on Friday.

Knight confirmed that he was contacted about the case.

“Yes, I am aware of the matter and was contacted by the family members,” said Knight.

He said that his law firm, Knight, Junor and Samuels, will be taking up the matter.

Meanwhile, the head of the St Catherine South Police Division has launched an investigation in the case which, in the past two days, has attracted international attention.

“We are aware of the case and already an investigation has been launched into the matter,” head of the division, Noel Christie, told the Sunday Observer.

Jones, who is still bedridden at Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine, said that on June 5 he was shot at the Portmore Toll Plaza by a security guard.

The 49-year-old Jones, who said he spent more than eight years in the US Navy, told the Observer that he arrived in Jamaica last year with the intention of spending a few months with his mother in Greenwich Town, given that he had left Jamaica more than 30 years ago.

Jones said he was riding a bicycle from Portmore back to Greenwich Town, missed a turn, and ended up on the toll road.

“When I reached the toll booth I was ordered to stop by a security guard,” Jones said. “I complied, parked my bicycle and was proceeding to take out my ID to show to the guard and was shot three times.”

He said the first bullet threw him to the ground, after which “the guard came over me and pumped two other bullets into my body” .

“I was attacked and shot for no reason, and then brought to the hospital and abandoned,” said Jones.

“At least six security guards were at the location watching at the time, so there was no need to use force,” he added.

Jones said he spent several weeks in the hospital unable to contact his family. “It was after I got access to the Internet I was able to inform them of my situation,” he told the Observer.

Yesterday, his mother said that since his story was published by the Observer, at least two US Navy officials have visited her son to ascertain his condition.

She said that personnel from the US Embassy in Kingston had also made contact with her, informing her that US officials were looking into the matter. The Sunday Observer could not immediately verify this.

Yesterday, the distraught former sailor said that, while he was focusing on recuperating, he was still disappointed with the treatment that was meted out to him by the security guard and later the police, whom he blamed for transporting him incorrectly.

“The way how I was treated … how the police took me up and flung me in the back of their vehicle, instead of using proper procedure, I believe was what also contributed to my current state where I am now paralysed,” Jones said.

He said that, despite his experience, he would visit Jamaica again.

“I love this country. It’s that I sense the people are frustrated, they are living on edge; you can hear it in their voices, and I think the Government should pay closer attention to what they are saying,” Jones said.

“The youth are the pulse and heartbeat of any country. Many of them are not educated or articulate enough to express their thoughts, but they get their messages across in things like the music,” Jones said.