Scott-Mottley wants Gov’t to provide answers on deadly Sligoville shooting

Opposition Spokesperson on Foreign, Regional and Diaspora Affairs, Donna Scott-Mottley says it’s incumbent on the Government to provide an explanation on the deadly confrontation that occurred between members of the security forces and gunmen on Friday, October 16. The deadly early morning shooting in the Five/Six Miles area of Mount Moreland, Sligoville in St Catherine, left two policemen and three alleged gunmen dead and a 10-year-old girl critically injured in hospital. Speaking in the Senate on Friday during her contribution to the debate on the Mediation Bill, Scott-Mottley, a veteran attorney-at-law, referenced a television news report of October 22 which showed a group of pastors visiting the crime scene. “They were totally overwhelmed by what they saw,” she said. “This is only a reflection of what the public feels and I think in this instance where we were so appalled at the loss of life of the police, when we see reports which do not challenge that, but which give us grave concern about how the entire operation was being conducted, it is incumbent on the government to provide a clear explanation to the public through proper and thorough investigation,” she added. Members of the Senate, including Scott-Mottley, had paid tribute and offered condolences to the injured and slain policemen during the sitting of Friday, October 16, the day the confrontation unfolded. “I again reaffirm my condemnation of that incident,” Scott-Motley said Friday after Leader of Government Business Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, who was absent from the previous sitting, offered her own condolences on Friday. Of note is that in the television news report, members of the clergy questioned whether the incident could have been handled differently. However, they also acknowledged the dangerous situations in which members of the security forces work, offered condolences to the families of the slain officers, and condemned the actions of the gunmen. They also appealed to young men to steer clear of a life of crime, pointing out that it only leads to their destruction.