标签： Jamaica

Against a rising tide of allegations of sexual abuse of students by educators across Jamaica, senior child protection officials have called for urgent systemic changes to close gaps that allow predatory educators to move between schools and reoffend. At a public discussion series hosted by the University of Technology, Jamaica, focused on strengthening national frameworks to protect children from sexual abuse, Keisha Rodriguez-Mills, director of investigations, inspections and compliance at the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA), outlined key gaps in the current system that put minors at continued risk.

Rodriguez-Mills pointed to a dangerous, widespread misconception among school administrators that an abusive educator’s resignation resolves the issue. Many school leaders adopt a false sense of security after an accused educator steps down, only for that individual to secure a position at a new institution and repeat their harmful behavior, she explained.

While Rodriguez-Mills noted that overall reporting of child sexual abuse has climbed in recent years, including more reports from children themselves, significant barriers to full accountability remain. A disproportionate share of new reports now center on educator misconduct against students, she confirmed, and a troubling pattern of underreporting has emerged around grooming of adolescent male victims. Many adolescent boys choose not to come forward with reports of abuse, in part due to harmful societal stereotypes that dismiss such reports as unmanly or “girly”. In most cases of male grooming abuse, it is a peer who becomes aware of the harm and files a report on the victim’s behalf. Rodriguez-Mills framed this trend as a small positive sign, indicating that public education campaigns are teaching children to recognize and report inappropriate behavior.

To stem the cycle of abuse, Rodriguez-Mills argued that public awareness and training efforts must extend beyond working current school staff to include reforming pre-service training at Jamaican teachers’ colleges. Currently, most teacher training programs focus almost exclusively on curriculum delivery, lesson planning and practical teaching requirements, leaving new educators unprepared to navigate appropriate boundaries with students, she said. Training must emphasize that teachers hold adult authority and are never permitted to engage in inappropriate interactions, even when a student expresses romantic attention toward an educator.

Rodriguez-Mills also called on all school principals to implement mandatory, regular orientation sessions that outline appropriate professional boundaries for all new hires and existing staff, warning that the OCA has repeatedly documented the tragic outcomes when this basic step is skipped.

She detailed a common harmful pattern that enables cross-school reoffending: when an allegation of abuse arises against a teacher, the educator often resigns mid-investigation. Facing staffing shortages, many schools treat the departure as a resolution to the problem, failing to document the allegations or report them to national education authorities. The abusive educator then relocates – sometimes across the island, from Kingston to far-flung parishes like Westmoreland – and is hired by a new school that has no warning of prior allegations. It is only when the educator reoffends at the new campus that the new principal contacts the previous employer, where leaders often admit they never documented or reported the original claims.

To fix this gap, Rodriguez-Mills urged all schools to report all credible allegations of abuse to Jamaica’s Ministry of Education, to maintain permanent records of claims regardless of whether the educator resigns, and to avoid rushing to hire staff simply to fill vacancies even when stretched thin by understaffing. She also called on educators to be more attuned to student behavior: when students withdraw from a class or avoid a specific staff member, leaders should not automatically assume the student is misbehaving. In many cases, this withdrawal is a sign the student feels uncomfortable or unsafe around the educator, requiring closer examination.

Joining Rodriguez-Mills at the forum, Florene Clarke, an inspector of police and sub-officer in charge of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), praised the work of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) to address the issue. The JTA has partnered with CISOCA to deliver training on appropriate boundaries, grooming prevention and the legal and ethical consequences of inappropriate relationships with students to educators and trainee teachers across all Jamaican teachers’ colleges. While Clarke noted that law enforcement has made progress, including arresting abusive educators and school staff, she acknowledged that systemic change will take sustained effort. CISOCA will continue to proactively partner with educational institutions to deliver training and build capacity to protect children, she confirmed.

Dr Warren Thompson, director of intake investigation, court and adoption services at the Child Protection and Family Services Agency, added context on the scope of the crisis, noting that the majority of reported child sexual abuse cases involve sexual activity with a minor under 16 years old. Thompson said that 90 percent of all reported abuse cases target girls, but significant challenges remain in prosecuting perpetrators even when reports are filed, often due to a lack of sufficient evidence to move cases forward to police investigation.

While girls make up the majority of victims, Thompson confirmed that abuse of boys is also widespread and drastically underreported. Most reports of male victimization involve only severe cases of buggery, while claims of grooming, sexual touching and other lesser forms of abuse rarely make it to authorities, despite the fact that grooming affects both boys and girls across Jamaica.

MANCHESTER, Jamaica — Two men facing a raft of criminal charges tied to an alleged driver’s license fraud scheme have been released on bail following a Wednesday hearing at the Manchester Parish Court.

The accused are 46-year-old Marvin Dean, a retired justice of the peace (JP) who resides in Manchester’s Cross Keys and Newport communities, and 64-year-old Dudley Powell, a sitting JP and active businessman based in Glenco, Spalding, along the shared border of Clarendon and Manchester parishes. Both men were charged last week following a coordinated police operation that took place at the Island Traffic Authority’s Mandeville Service Hub on May 18, where authorities took them into custody.

Presiding judge Monique Harrison set bail at $600,000 for Dean and $400,000 for Powell, with strict pretrial conditions attached to their release. As part of the bail agreement, Dean is required to check in with officers at the Newport Police Station every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while Powell must complete the same check-in protocol at the Spalding Police Station on the same scheduled days. Both men have been ordered to surrender all valid travel documents, and Jamaican authorities have issued a formal stop order across all national ports of entry and exit to block any attempt to leave the country ahead of trial.

Legal representation for the hearing was split between local attorneys: Odane Marston appeared on behalf of Powell, while Rodain Richardson and Amy Dunkley represented Dean.

The charges against the pair stem from allegations that they posed as licensed medical doctors to illegally sign off on mandatory health checks required for new driver’s license applications. Investigators filed 12 separate criminal charges against Dean last Thursday, including impersonating a medical professional, forgery of government and notary public seals, uttering forged documents, possession of falsified official paperwork, cheating public revenue, obtaining funds through false pretenses, conspiracy, attempted bribery, and possession of forged official stamps.

Powell was arraigned on four distinct charges the following day: cheating public revenue, conspiracy to commit fraud, misuse of an official seal for unlawful activity, and misconduct in public office, a charge tied to his ongoing role as a sitting justice of the peace.

The case is scheduled to return to Manchester Parish Court for a next hearing on July 1, as the investigation into the alleged fraud ring continues.

MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Seven months after Category 5 Hurricane Melissa left significant damage across the northern portion of the Jamaican parish of Manchester, local municipal leaders have confirmed that pre-season mitigation work is well underway to ready the region for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially kicked off this Monday.

Donovan Mitchell, chairman of the Manchester Municipal Corporation and mayor of Mandeville, shared updates on preparedness efforts in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, emphasizing that the local government has taken a proactive approach to risk reduction ahead of the season’s historically most active late period.

“We know the first two to three months of hurricane season are typically not very active, but activity picks up sharply as we move into the later months. Our goal is to have every measure in place long before a storm threat arrives, so we are fully ready for any outcome,” Mitchell explained. “Right now, Manchester is roughly 80 percent prepared. We are confident we can respond effectively if any storm impacts our parish this year.”

Mitchell recalled that while the municipality had preparation measures in place ahead of last year’s storm, Melissa, which made landfall on October 28, brought unprecedented, unexpected damage that tested local response capacity.

In this year’s preparedness push, the municipal government has prioritized inspecting and repairing emergency public shelters across the parish. Of the original 86 shelters the parish once maintained, 55 are now certified ready for use, while the remaining 31 sustained irreversible or complex damage during Melissa and have not yet been restored. All active shelters now feature accessible ramps to accommodate people with physical disabilities, and a specialized shelter for vulnerable people with mental health conditions will be hosted at Mandeville Primary School, which has been fully retrofitted for this purpose. Administrators are also updating the roster of shelter managers, noting that while some long-serving managers have retired, replacement staff have already been lined up to fill any gaps ahead of a storm event.

The parish’s central warehouse for pre-positioned hurricane relief supplies has also been fully repaired following damage from last year’s storm. Mitchell noted that this storage facility is critical to the local response, as municipal teams act as first responders in the immediate aftermath of a storm. Having emergency supplies on site ensures the parish can support residents even if national government agencies are delayed in reaching Manchester due to widespread damage across other regions of the country.

Later this week, on Thursday, the municipality will host a meeting of its Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Committee, with all key local disaster response stakeholders invited to attend to align coordination plans ahead of the season. Specialized response equipment is already on standby for rapid deployment if needed.

Funding from the Ministry of Local Government has allowed the parish to ramp up drain cleaning work across Manchester, with a major push scheduled to begin across the parish in June. The municipality has also prioritized repairs to parochial roads, which fall under its jurisdiction (main national roads are managed by the National Works Agency and national government lawmakers).

Currently, repair work is ongoing on Mollison Road near Christiana, which collapsed during last year’s hurricane. Restoring this road is a top priority, as it would cut off access to roughly 1,000 local residents if left unrepaired ahead of the new season. Mitchell added that most other parochial roads are already in good condition, following recently completed repairs on high-traffic routes including McKinley Road, Brumalia Road, Wint Road, and Ward Avenue, all of which are heavily used by motorists traveling to and from Mandeville. Local city councilors are conducting individual assessments of roads in their districts to address any remaining hazards.

The municipality is currently in discussions with Desmond McKenzie, Minister of Local Government and Community Development, to secure additional funding for remaining repair and preparedness projects, and is awaiting a response on further support.

Beyond municipal-led work, Mitchell is calling on local residents to take personal responsibility for maintaining clear drains near their homes after municipal crews complete cleaning. The municipal government enforces a zero-tolerance policy for blocked drains, which are a major cause of preventable flooding during hurricane events. Crews are already conducting inspections of drains that cross private property to address illegal encroachment or blockages, and Mitchell urged residents to avoid dumping plastic, garbage, or other debris in drainage infrastructure.

Mitchell also highlighted specific ongoing risks from roadside garages and active construction sites, where operators frequently dump building materials including sand and marl along road shoulders. Heavy rain can wash these materials into drains, causing widespread blockages. Under the Parochial Roads Act, the municipal council has the authority to set time limits for temporary placement of construction materials on public roads. If operators fail to remove materials after receiving official notice, the council will remove the materials at the operator’s expense. The mayor also issued a warning for residents to remove derelict vehicles that block drainage pathways, particularly along roads used for informal garages, noting that unclaimed vehicles will be removed by the council ahead of the storm season.