Minister condemns killing of DC,/B>

SECURITY Minister Peter Phillips has described the killing of District Constable Stephen Johnson as a calculated act of barbarism, and has urged the investigators to be relentless in bringing to justice the cowards who gunned down the officer.

Johnson, 52, of Southborough in Portmore, St Catherine, was shot and killed by a group of men while he was going home Thursday night.

“The more than 18 years of service given by DC Johnson to the police force and by extension Jamaica must serve to reaffirm the resolve of all serving members of all ranks and all stripes that an attack on any one from the JCF is an attack on the very foundation of National Security,” Phillips said in a statement yesterday.

Bail extended for cop on murder charge

MONTEGO BAY, St James – Senior Resident Magistrate Winsome Henry yesterday extended the bail of 35 year-old Constable Hugh Roy Campbell, who was charged with last year’s murder of his colleague at the Mount Salem Police Station.

Henry is scheduled to return to Montego Bay RM Court in June for a preliminary hearing in the case.

Constable Campbell, who is out on a $1-million bail bond, is facing a capital charge for the murder of Corporal Grantley Waite. He has 17 years of service in the force.

Man stabbed at wake for cop

WAKEFIELD, Trelawny – A Trelawny man was yesterday morning stabbed to death near the Wakefield Police Station where the police were holding a wake for one of their colleagues.

The dead man has been identified as Stephen Mcbayne, 23, unemployed of Deeside district in the parish.

Guyana steps up security for gov’t officials

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) – Guyana has stepped up security for top government officials after the recent slaying of a Cabinet minister at his home, officials said yesterday.

Gunmen killed Agriculture Minister Satyadeo Sawh, his brother, his sister and a security guard last Saturday in an attack that some officials said was politically motivated.

Extra protection was provided to other top officials after authorities reviewed national security following Sawh’s death, said Robert Persaud, presidential spokesman, who declined to elaborate.

No one has been arrested in the killings.