Body dumped near road in Jamaica after robbery

By MINDELL SMALL,Guardian Staff Reporter

Twenty-two year old Joseph Darius Burrows, the Bahamian student who was killed and dumped alongside a highway in Jamaica last week, is scheduled to be flown to his native Grand Bahama on Monday.

Burrows was reportedly robbed, however, police in Jamaica have not said that robbery was the motive in his killing.

Reports indicated that his abductors used his ATM card and withdrew all the money from his account. The amount, believed to be in the hundreds of U.S. dollars, was not determined.

Burrows was a student at Northern Caribbean University, NCU, in Mandeville where he was studying biology. Aspiring to become a doctor, he had been attending the school for four years and was scheduled to graduate in 2005.

On Sunday, a memorial service was held for him on the grounds of the university. His funeral service will be held at the Eight Mile Rock Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Saturday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, who attended the service, told The Guardian on Sunday afternoon that in light of the incident, some Bahamian parents whose children are studying at NCU, would like for them to quit the school, leave that country and continue their studies elsewhere.

"Some parents have asked their children to return home, but the university is doing the best it can to ensure that the security issues are addressed," he said.

He added that he met with NCU officials to discuss the security issues at the school, and in the country in general. "Encouraging people to be more vigilant, taking measures of self protection, that's what we talked to the students about," he said.

"But with some of the security issues, we have to make representation to the Jamaican government."

Mr Mitchell further noted that the university's board, consisting of two Bahamian pastors, would be meeting today to further discuss security issues with the students. The Bahamian pastors are Jeffrey Thompson, head of the Cayman circuit, and Leonard Johnson, head of The Bahamas circuit.

Pastor Johnson, who is also the leader of The Bahamas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, also attended the memorial service.

Other attendees included the Member of Parliament for the area, Audley Shaw, university officials as well as the mayor and deputy mayor of Mandeville.

Police still have no suspects

The Guardian contacted Corporal Seymour Shavaughn at Jamaica's Constabulary Communication Network on Sunday to determine if police had made any progress in their investigation into the killing.

He said, "No one has been held in connection with that murder just yet, so it's basically at the same stage."

When asked if police were following any leads, he added "Well, what we'll have to do is keep in constant dialogue with the investigator."

The operations manager at JCCN, Inspector Victor George Henry, was not in office on Sunday. He had been assisting the Bahamian media with other crimes in that country related to The Bahamas.

Jamaica is a country with a population of 2.6 million and averages about 1000 murders a year, most occurring in and around the capital, Kingston. The killings are often traced to street gangs and drug trafficking. With stabbing and shooting deaths occurring frequently in Kingston, the country has been dubbed "the murder capital of the world."

Burrows was taken to ghetto

Details of the incident revealed that Burrows was reported missing at 10 pm on Saturday Nov.7, by his wife. She called police after she was given a tip from a friend that her husband was kidnapped by a group of men and taken to an unsavoury part of town.

Burrows was reportedly abducted that night when he left his home to buy a corn on the cob from a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken. He was able to call his wife but when he spoke to her, he talked with a Jamaican accent, saying he was going to a party.

His wife knew right away that something was wrong, not only because he was talking with the accent but also because he said he was going to a party. Burrows was a devout Christian and did not attend parties.

His car was discovered on last Monday about five minutes away from where he had previously lived in Mandeville.

Two days later, his body was found in the Mandeville area near a highway. It was initially suspected that he was killed execution-style, but reports on Thursday said an autopsy revealed that he was killed after being hit by a blunt object to his head.

A man with ambition

Burrows graduated from Freeport Anglican High School and loved to play in the school's steel band.

He was also a member of the Eight-Mile Rock Seventh Day Adventist Church.

NCU is the largest SDA tertiary educational institution in the world with over 4,500 students. Burrows was among 45 Bahamian students who attended the university in Jamaica.

He and his wife, Altemarae, had been married for three years. They have a 2-year old daughter, Tajana.