By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

POLICE Commissioner Clayton Fernander said some people charged with serious crimes last year were released on bail “within two or three months”, adding: “Something is definitely wrong with that.”

His renewed call for changes to bail laws came during a press conference in which he discussed the soaring murder rate, which has involved eight killings in 2024.

“We continue to say, and the law says within two to three years if the matter doesn’t come up in a week within that period, then he or she should be entitled to be reviewed for bail, but two to three months? That is something we really have to look at,” he said.

He also said the mother of 16-year-old Davinique Gray, who was murdered in her Nassau Village home on Saturday, was “harbouring” a fugitive who was the intended target of the murderers.

 The fugitive, Gamaliel Gray, was a suspect wanted in connection with the death of Gerrad Coakley, who was shot and killed at his residence on January 2. 

 He said Gray was at the Nassau Village residence at the time of the incident. He suggested the incident involved gang retaliation.

 “Officers had to chase him maybe a day or so because we were looking for him. He was running from the police,” he said.

 “It appears though she was harbouring him. He was there when individuals shot up the house, and it was so sad that the young 16-year-old was shot. It appears as though she was aware that we were looking for this individual, and he was hiding out.

 “The criminals did their homework. Someone may have communicated or seen him in Nassau Village at that residence. She put the entire family at risk, and it’s so sad that it ended up that the daughter was shot and killed.”

 Gamaliel Gray surrendered to police yesterday, accompanied by his attorney.

 Mr Fernander could not say whether the mother of the dead 16-year-old will be charged for harbouring a criminal, noting police expect to speak with her.

It is unclear how long Mr Gray had been hiding at the residence.

 Of the eight murders this year, Commissioner Fernander said four were gang retaliation, two were domestic matters, and one was drug-related.

 The 11th grader at RM Bailey High School was charging a mobile device on Saturday, two years after her father was murdered and one day after what would have been his birthday.

 Earlier that day, Travis Allen was allegedly killed by Rashad “Eyes” Paul.

Mr Paul, who is allegedly on the run, is on bail for murder and was electronically monitored until he disposed of his device in a lake, according to the commissioner.

In two separate incidents, both Darrell Ferguson and Christian Johnson were killed on January 5.

On January 3, a shooting on Prince Charles Drive claimed the lives of Dino Smith and Chatere Wells.

Gerrad Coakley, who was known to police, was killed on January 2.

Mario Cash, Sr, who was allegedly stabbed to death by his son, Mario Cash, Jr, was the first murder victim of the year.

Mr Fernander called the uptick in violent crime alarming.