Whereabouts of missing man still unknown

Despite two small searches over the weekend by some members of the Facebook group “Time to stand together against crime in SVG”, the whereabouts of 78-year-old Menelaus ‘Servant of the Lord’ Jocelyn are still unknown.{{more}}

Member of the group Ashford Peters told SEARCHLIGHT that despite the small turnout by Vincentians, they were still able to gather vital information, which could be of great help to the police in their investigations.

Jocelyn has been missing from his Sion Hill home since December 26, 2011.

Peters noted that assistance was requested from the police, but they later learned after their first search that six Special Services Unit (SSU) officers had been dispatched to the Arnos Vale roundabout, instead of the Sion Hill intersection where the search commenced.

Peters said the first search, which began at about 9:00 am, included four persons, who searched throughout the Cane Garden, Sion Hill Bay, Arnos Vale landfill and lower Roseau area.

During the afternoon session, which again saw four persons participating, Peters said they went to Frenches, questioned persons on the streets of Kingstown and even went back to the home of Jocelyn.

“We gained some information from some persons and from our own investigations,” Peters said. He, however, did not wish to go into detail about that.

Jocelyn’s relative, Emily Jocelyn, told SEARCHLIGHT last week that she last spoke with the elderly man, who is a popular contributor to radio call-in discussions, on the telephone on Christmas day and that everything seemed okay to her.

“One of the challenges presented was not so much the numbers that were involved, because based on experience of the search of Shanika Small, it can be a situation where if that search is not conducted properly, evidence can be tampered with. The small unit we had was not bad at all,” Peters explained.

He noted that some areas were quite bushy and also said they needed to have permission to search abandoned buildings and private properties.

“We are not police officers. If we had law enforcement officers with us, we might have been able to do a better and deeper search, especially in a particular area we were referred to,” he said.

According to Peters, credible sources have said that Jocelyn was last seen on the night of Boxing Day asking directions to Cane Garden.

Peters said they plan to carry out another search this weekend around the same locale and in another area. (KW)