THE police on Tuesday said a 38-year-old man has been charged with multiple serious offences, including murder, in relation to the brutal killing of 14-year-old Price Johnson at her home in St Andrew last Thursday.

Police named the man as Imanie Niah Lydner, an unemployed resident of Crescent Road in Kingston 13.

“Lydner has also been charged with housebreaking and wounding with intent,” the police said, adding that the wounding occurred when Lydner attacked a man who attempted to come to the child’s assistance.

Police said Lynder hit the man in his head while escaping.

Johnson, a ninth-grade student of Haile Selassie High School, was at home in Palm Grove Court on Spanish Town Road when a man forced his way into the apartment and sexually assaulted her. Initial reports said she was stabbed multiple times and bludgeoned.

She was rushed to Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) where she succumbed to her injuries.

Superintendent Damion Manderson, head of the St Andrew South Police Division, told the Jamaica Observer last Thursday that detectives were met by a macabre scene upon their arrival at the apartment.

“We were called to Palm Grove around 1:59 pm to a particular room. Upon getting there the unsightly scene met the officers of a young girl with multiple stab wounds. They did their necessary checks, as trained, and they realised that there were still signs of life and so, with assistance, they got her into the service vehicle and on to KPH,” Manderson related.

He said the victim had “apparently been sexually molested and wounded” by the assailant who also attacked and injured a male resident who had tried to accost him.

Late Thursday evening Johnson’s mother, Eugene Wade, shocked by the barbarity of the crime, wept bitterly.

“Father God, a you mi live fah, God; mi lift mi hand to you, so why my little girl? Weh mi do, God, weh mi do?” she said in an interview with the Observer.

The mother’s pain was even more palpable given that she was reportedly asleep in the apartment at the time.

The murder left a dark cloud over Palm Grove Court, with residents expressing disbelief and shock over the tragedy.

“Me feel shaken up about the situation to know that 15 years me live here so and it’s the first me a see something like this, and it’s a promising young lady,” said a resident of the apartment complex.

Other residents described the teenager as quiet and well-mannered.

On Tuesday, the St Andrew South Criminal Investigations Branch (CIB) said Lydner was apprehended at his residence on Sunday, February 9, 2025 with assistance from his relatives, after he had not been seen over the weekend. He was taken into custody and formal charges were laid against him on Tuesday, February 11, 2025.

His court date has not been finalised.

The police issued an appeal for anyone with further information on the matter, or any other crime committed across the St Andrew South Police Division, to contact the St Andrew South CIB, Crime Stop at 311, or the nearest police station.