WESTERN BUREAU – Church officials at the St James Parish Church say they know that negotiations for commercial sex are sometimes conducted on the church grounds, and that the yard is often used as a bathroom and toilet. But yesterday morning’s discovery of a man’s body near the main entrance to the church building now has them worried about their safety.

By their count, he is the third person killed, or dumped, on the compound since 1995.

The death of 38 year-old Matthew Daley of 19 Barnett Lane in Montego Bay has pushed the murder tally in St James to 40 since the start of the year.

“I don’t feel safe, I feel very traumatised,” said Lorna Johnson, secretary to Bishop of Montego Bay, Howard Gregory.

For Johnson, who said she has had to endure other “uncomfortable” incidents around the church compound over the years, yesterday morning’s incident is yet another blow.

“People jump the fence and do all sort of things, and when you talk to them they abuse you,” she said, adding that the compound is often used by those soliciting sex or responding to other calls of nature.

Caretaker Norman Andrews said Daley, described as a homeless drug abuser, was a familiar face at the St James Parish church.

“We have a feeding programme where we feed (street people) every fortnight, and that individual got food every fortnight,” Andrews said.

Like Johnson, he too said he was concerned about his safety.

“Working here, we are not safe because we don’t know what is next. We don’t have any security here during the day, and we feel very uncomfortable working here,” the caretaker said.

According to police reports, at about 6:00 am yesterday they got a call about the body. When they arrived, crime scene investigators noticed two wounds to Daley’s neck and other wounds to his body. He was also chopped on the left hand. Police were unable to establish a motive for his murder.

Yesterday, Daley’s younger brother, Delroy Brown, shed no tears when he heard about his brother’s demise.

His memory of repaying borrowed money or replacing items stolen to feed Daley’s drug habit were too fresh.

“My reaction to his death?… I feel happy,” he said. “A lot of people might look at me and say I am crazy, because that’s my brother. But every day you see him, and the condition that he is in. he did not want to be helped.”

Several attempts had been made, he added, to rehabilitate Daley but he continued to miss appointments. “We were supposed to go to Cornwall Regional Hospital to get help and he never showed up, so I told him I washed my hands of him,” Brown explained. “I hated to say those words but those are the words that needed to be said.”

He added that his brother’s last stint in jail was a six-month stay, last year, when he was convicted of theft.