ONE hundred and forty-two Jamaicans have been executed in the 26 years between Independence in 1962 and 1988 – when the last two persons went to the gallows – according to records from the Correctional Services Department.

Those hanged have all been men.

The year 1986 accounted for the most hangings when 14 men went to the gallows, followed by 1984 when 12 met a similar fate. Eight were executed 1962; six in 1963, nine in 1964; four in 1965; seven in 1966; six in 1967; four in 1968; 10 in 1969; one in 1970; seven in 1971; five in 1972; two in 1973; four in 1974; none in 1975; four in 1976; none between 1977 and 1979; one in 1980; three in 1981; 10 in 1982; eight in 1983; nine in 1985; six in 1987 and two in 1988.

And as Jamaicans head into this week hoping for a parliamentary decision on the death penalty, eight men currently on death row will also be keeping a close watch on the proceedings.

They are:

. Ian Gordon; murder

. Michael Asserope

. Garfield Campbell

. Marlon Johnson

. Oneil Hamilton

. Michael Allison

. Peter Dougal

. Junior Campbell

In October 2003, sound system technician from Gordon Town, in St Andrew, Ian Gordon – then 33-years-old – was sentenced to hang, after he was convicted of murder in the Home Circuit Court.

Gordon was found guilty of the August 2000 double murder of his cousin, Garfield Gordon, of Tavern Drive in Gordon Town; and Vincent Rafington, 42, also of Gordon Town.

The court was told that on August 29, 2000 three men were sleeping in a one-room board house in Gordon Town when three men with guns entered the house and opened fire. One of the men in the house escaped, but Rafington and Gordon were shot. Rafington died on the spot while Gordon died at hospital. Police say they recovered 25 spent shells from the scene, and the next day, cops held Gordon and tested his hands for gunpowder residue. One hand was found with traces of residue while the other had elevated levels. Gordon was subsequently arrested.

In his defence, Gordon said he was not at the murder scene as he was sleeping at his common-law wife’s home. She corroborated his testimony, but it was not enough to have him acquitted.

Michael Asserope, a taxi operator, was sentenced to death in 1999, after he was convicted for the rape and murder of 10-year-old Tamara Osbourne, a grade four student of the Denbigh Primary School in Clarendon.

The police say Asserope abducted, raped and murdered the 10-year-old girl, whose body was found about 8:15 am on June 24, 1998, on the Bestwell Farm of the Bustamante Highway in the Woodleigh area of May Pen. Her throat had been slashed.

Asserope was said to have had a relationship with the sister of the murdered child. During interrogation he confessed that he sexually assaulted the child and later killed her.