Mayor of Kingston, Delroy Williams has condemned the brutal beatings of three homeless persons which occurred in Kingston on Sunday night (May 2).

“I cannot but reiterate that it speaks to the awful state of affairs within the conscience of men, or perhaps it is a deranged serial attacker, but we already have a difficult task in managing to care for our brothers and sisters who have, for whatever reason, met up on hard times and found themselves vulnerable and homeless,” Williams said.

“I am happy that the police have a suspect in custody in this latest incident and we are working with the JCF, residents and other stakeholders as the investigation progresses,” Williams added.

According to Williams keen attention will be paid to the areas where homeless persons converge as this follows from the brutal murders of three homeless persons earlier this year.

“We continue to explore avenues to ensure utmost safety and care of the homeless and continue to encourage them to use the state-run facilities for their protection. The KSAMC’s Poor Relief Officers and other workers will be redoubling our due diligence in appealing to these homeless persons to stay in the approved shelters -especially at nights,” said Williams who noted that Poor Relief Officers continually go “above and beyond the call of duty with limited resources to serve and care for the poor and homeless.”

Williams added that a lot has been done to improve the care afforded to the homeless population with greater investments to come from both the public and private sectors.

“Our partners in the private sector, NGOs and other industries play a great role in what we have been able to accomplish for the care of the homeless and we will be focusing on their protection even greater moving forward,” Williams explained.