13-year-old Jamaican boy on murder charge

19.JAN.07

A 13-year-old Jamaican boy who is accused of murdering his five-year-old neighbour by giving him a deadly brew of the weed killer gramoxone and white rum to ingest last year is scheduled to appear in the Kingston Home Circuit Court next month.

The accused, who lived with his mother at the time in a rural St Andrew community, allegedly gave his neighbour, Nathan Reynolds, the poisonous mixture on January 26, 2006, during one of their regular play sessions.{{more}}

The boys were said to have been in the yard playing when Reynolds’ mother decided to check on them due to a long period of silence. To her surprise, she found her firstborn son on the ground, foaming at the mouth with fluid streaming from his nostrils.

The boy then told his mother that the 13-year-old – who by this time had fled – had given him “something to drink”. Reynolds was taken to the police station and then to hospital where he died on February 8, 2006, from multiple organ failure, which was due to poisoning. His mouth was also severely burnt.

The accused was charged the following week with murder.

The Observer was told that the mother of the accused, who is now before the Family Court charged with child neglect, could also be slapped with an additional charge of obstruction of justice, as she allegedly sent the accused away to stay with his father following the incident.

The youth, who appears small for his age, is to return to court on February 2. (Jamaica Observer)