MANDEVILLE, Manchester — A teacher who was chopped and injured in the parish last Thursday, allegedly by her child’s father, is still undergoing treatment in hospital.

At the same time, the police believe that the suspect, who is also accused of killing the child in the same incident, is still alive.

The police and residents had initially theorised that following the incident Shawn McPherson may have jumped to his death in a nearby sinkhole.

However, head of the Manchester Police Division, Superintendent David White told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that McPherson could not have survived there for days, and as such his decomposing body would have started emitting an odour.

He said that last week Jamaica Defence Force soldiers and Manchester Fire Department personnel had joined forces with the police to check the sinkhole, but there were no indications that the accused was there.

“We are not taking any chances,” White said, emphasising that their search for him continues.

The Manchester police had reported that at about 6:30 am on May 30 the woman was in a domestic dispute with McPherson, a taxi driver, at the home they shared on McKinley Drive in Mandeville when he chopped her and their eight-month old son with a machete.

McPherson’s car was found burnt out in the Ramble community where he grew up and which is one of the routes on which he operates.

Last week, the Ministry of Education postponed the two-day Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examination for grade 4 students of Ramble Primary to allow the school community to deal with the trauma caused from the attack on the teacher, who works there.

Principal Lenford Pinnock said yesterday that administrators at the school were still awaiting word on when the assessment will take place for the students.

He said he expects that it will happen before the academic year ends.

Pinnock said that the Ministry of Education’s trauma team is still providing support at the school.

Police investigators say they have no knowledge of what caused the dispute between the couple.