Education State Minister Condemns Slaying of Students

Minister of State for Education and Youth, Senator Noel Monteith, has strongly condemned the brutal slaying of 15-year old Tavia Smith and her six-year brother Tajae.
The students, who resided in the Portmore community of St. Catherine, were killed by gunmen last week.
“I want publicly on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Youth and myself, to publicly condemn the act. I think this was a very cruel act. This has happened too often that so many of our young students have been killed by cruel men,” Senator Monteith said at the official opening of the new Spot Valley High School in St. James on Friday (March 16).
The Minister of State made a passionate plea to all citizens to assist the police in fighting the monster of crime by giving information where possible.
“I really have to appeal to the community of Jamaica that if ever they know anything about anybody, who has done any such act, even in the past and have not yet been brought to justice that they should report it to the police . put yourself in the place of the parents, close friends and other students at the school they attended,” he pleaded.
“We therefore ask the entire Jamaica to help us to see if we can bring these cruel men to justice”, Senator Monteith stressed.
He expressed the hope that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) will be relentless in its investigations, and do everything in its power to ensure that the perpetrators of the vicious crime were brought to justice.