BARBARA Moncrieffe, co-owner of Moncrieffe’s Patio Shop on Old Hope Road, was killed yesterday following an alleged attack by an employee of the establishment.

Her husband Vassell, also a co-owner of the establishment, and two female workers were injured when the employee, armed with a piece of metal pipe, “went berserk”. The three were taken to hospital for treatment.

The police were unable to give details of the incident, but people who claimed to be eyewitnesses said the male employee went to the businessplace on Old Hope Road in St Andrew around 12:30 pm where an altercation ensued.

The employee in question, who is yet to be identified, was said to have used the metal pipe to attack the four. The reason for the attack was not clear last night. The accused employee, who reportedly left the scene after the attack, was later seen loitering near the scene of the crime and was picked up by the police a short while after.

According to Director of Bogues Brothers Industries Limited, Arthur Bogues, whose business is right beside Moncrieffe’s Patio Shop, he initially was unaware of the incident, but soon sensed that things were amiss.

“I’m a justice of the peace in this area, and when I came back from lunch, I passed and I saw a group outside the shop, it didn’t looked like the usual group. I saw a community member limping around there and I asked if everything okay but nobody said anything, so I went to my office,” Bogues told the Jamaica Observer.

He said that he remained in the office for about 20 minutes working, before he came out again and this time he was directed to ‘go next door’.

Bogues stated that by the time he reached over, he saw Moncrieffe’s wife, who he said looked like she had already died, on a piece of board being taken from the building. He reported that he and his brother went over with his car, where the police escorted the vehicle, which was carrying the injured Moncrieffe to the University Hospital of the West Indies. He said from what he understood, Moncrieffe was dealt a blow to the head by a piece of pipe and his wife assaulted by a hammer (metal pipe).

Bogues said the two injured women worked as secretaries with the Moncrieffe’s establishment. One, he said, had been “cut up severely” and had to undergo an emergency operation.

“The guy that was limping apparently had heard the secretary scream… and he tried to jump over the wall, but the secretary jumped over the wall, all bloody, and he helped to put her into the car that took her down to KPH (Kingston Public Hospital),” Bogues stated.

It was alleged that the employee accused of yesterday’s attack was also allegedly involved in a commotion at the establishment two weeks ago.

An eyewitness who works at a nearby establishment said he passing when he saw a crowd in front of the establishment.

“When me come over, me see Mr Moncrieffe a di door a hold di door and blood a flow from him. I was going to assist him to a car when he said ‘no, no’, his wife is in the office and it seem like she dead, so him know from then that she might be dead,” the man stated.

He continued: “So me move to the office now and I see her on the ground curl up, breathless and motionless and I shout to two other people and they come and assist to take her up, and then he allowed us to put him in the car”.

He stated that he has known the couple since he was a boy and described the situation as unfortunate and sad.

Mr Moncrieffe’s younger brother, Arlington, said he did not hear about the incident till around 2:30 pm after a call from a cousin.

“When I came here, the police were here, so by that time his wife’s body had left because she died and then I went up to the hospital he was unconscious and he was in the X-ray department. He had regained consciousness but when I went up…he asked for his wife…and he said to me, ‘I doubt she gonna mek it’, but I didn’t go any further with the conversation,” he reported.

Arlington, who came back by the business place along with his wife around 4:30 pm to oversee cleaning operations and to secure the businessplace, said he was not given details of the incident.

He described the incident as “something out of this world” and stated that one of the elderly couple’s sons is set to be in the island before the weekend.

The Moncrieffes lost their Kingston home to an electrical fire sometime last year.