Residents had opportunity to prevent teacher’s death

His comments were in response to statements attributed to residents of Bellas Gate where 29-year-old Jeffery Bedward – the man police believed murdered Dawkins – lived. 

Bedward on Saturday was fatally shot during a shootout with members of the security forces in the neighbouring district of Belfield. He and another man, the police said, were intercepted while driving Dawkins’ vehicle in the Sand Hole area of Belfield. A .38 revolver was seized during the operation while Bedward’s accomplice escaped.

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Following his demise, residents, including the deceased father admitted in a Jamaica Gleaner report that they had knowledge of the gangster’s reputation but did not inform the police because they were afraid he would kill them.

But ultimately it was that silence of fear that led to the gruesome and untimely death of Dawkins, Finnikin argued.

“As you listen to the people, they knew about this criminal that was killed by the police. They knew of his wrongs, they were afraid to do the right thing. They knew where he hid his gun but they were afraid that he would kill them, yet he held them to ransom,” the outspoken social activist contended.

“People subjected themselves in this era where there is access to various channels to report criminality yet only in the death of this criminal, this young man, can people now rejoice and breathe and feel free to live again when in fact in my strong opinion they had the opportunity to prevent savagery and to prevent the murder of this teacher.”

Bedward, who also resided in the Clarendon communities of Sandy Bay and Chatteau, was listed as the main suspect in the murder of Donovan Francis in Bellas Gate on March 17, as well as the January 6, 2020 double homicide of Craig Smith and Bonito Williams. Smith and Williams were shot dead by gunmen at a construction site in Chatteau.

As more information is being revealed about the once feared thug, Finnikin is appalled that residents and relatives of Bedward living in the area “knew he murdered somebody in their community before and said nothing about it”.

Several human skeletal remains, which police strongly believed to be that of Dawkins, were discovered Thursday afternoon in a section of Sandy Bay in the vicinity of an abandoned exit of Highway 2000. The find follows eight consecutive days of intense investigation into the disappearance of Dawkins who was last seen at her Denbigh Kraal home in the Clarendon capital of May Pen on March 30.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey stated in an update to the media that based on intelligence gathered so far, investigators are now certain that Bedward was at Dawkins’ home about 11:30 pm on the day she was last seen and was also at the location where they found her body, even though they are awaiting formal DNA analysis and a postmortem to positively identify the deceased educator.

Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Crime Portfolio, Fitz Bailey, provides an update into the disappearance of missing teacher, Natalie Dawkins, following the discovery of human remains in Sandy Bay, Clarendon today. pic.twitter.com/NVfyIPSeS4

— Jamaica Constabulary Force (@JamaicaConstab) April 8, 2021

Finnikin further argued that while he’s well aware that other underlining factors are at play in a society that has become very toxic and almost immune to the crime epidemic, the social issues facing Jamaica is a matter “we must fix it”.

He added: “We can’t know about something and we keep it to ourselves, do nothing about it and evil prevail,” before cautioning Jamaicans not to “find ourselves to be party to any kind of criminality like this because it will come back to haunt us, our neighbour and certainly our country”.

DCP Bailey says the Police have reason to believe that the body that was discovered could be that of Natalie Dawkins. pic.twitter.com/yFJx1lfuCK

— Jamaica Constabulary Force (@JamaicaConstab) April 8, 2021