The 1978 Green Bay massacre

IN THE late 1970s, Jamaica was gripped by the evil hands of political violence, leading up to the general election of October 30, 1980. Michael Manley of the People’s National Party (PNP) was prime minister, and Edward Seaga was the leader of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). In 1980 alone, over 800 people died as a result of political violence. That was a new record.

The rivalry between both parties was so acute that reggae icon Bob Marley had to initiate the One Love Peace Concert, held at the National Stadium on April 22, 1978, and joined the hands of Manley and Seaga in a peace gesture on stage.

Many incidents happened during those bloody and turbulent days.

However, one of the incidents that stood out more than any other was the killing of five youth at the Green Bay Military Firing Range in St Catherine. The young men were from the High Holborn and Gold streets areas of the JLP garrison of South Side in Kingston Central, and were among a group of 14 who were taken from the community on January 5, 1978.

They were promised jobs as drivers and bodyguards at a time when the country was also going through economic and social turmoil, and the prospect of being gainfully employed was a major lure for the youths.

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But, the plan was not so enticing to some of them, especially when a military ambulance and minivan turned up to transport them at 5:15 a.m. Some had slept late after returning home from watching the movie, Honour Thy Father, at a now defunct Palace Theatre. The ambulance was a big red flag, and others just didn’t feel good about the plans.

At the time the Military Intelligence Unit (MIU) was established to deal with people who were deemed to be a threat to the island’s security .

The operation at Green Bay was executed by undercover agents who went into the community to crush Southside’s ‘POW Posse’, an alleged gang. Those who couldn’t resist whatever they were promised were picked up at the intersection of High Holborn and Port Royal streets. The vehicles then headed west towards Port Henderson, St Catherine for the Green Bay artillery range.

On arrival, the youths were led out to a section of the range where they were given strict instructions not to move as they would be picked up by some other people to take care of their work requirements and other matters. In the bushes on the nearby hill, a specially selected team of snipers from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) was waiting.

As soon as the MIU personnel drove off, a soldier arrived on the spot to see Winston Hamilton, the point man for the recruits. He was led away. Seconds after, a shot rang out, and a bullet entered Hamilton’s torso. That shot was also a signal to the camouflaged snipers, who, from their hide-out, then rained down bullets from high-powered guns on the other youths.

When the dust was settled, Trevor Clarke; Norman ‘Gutto’ Thompson, a former national footballer; Glenroy Richards; Howard ‘Gargo’ Martin; and Winston ‘Saddle Head’ Hamilton did not move. They were dead. The others obviously had escaped with their lives.

The official report released by the JDF was that the men were shot dead after they were surprised by a special strike force of soldiers doing target practice with guns smuggled into the country on the JDF artillery firing range. The residents of South Side rejected it and mounted demonstrations.

An official inquiry and coroners’ inquest was held in the Spanish Town Coroner’s Court which found that it was a conspiracy to kill the men at Green Bay and that personnel in the JDF were criminally responsible for the massacre. The overwhelming evidence was that the men were lured to Green Bay and ambushed by soldiers, led by a major and a captain.

In July 1978, warrants were issued by the Supreme Court for 10 members of the JDF for first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Those charged for the conspiracy were all acquitted in June and July 1981 on no-case submissions and those charged for the murders were acquitted on February 8, 1982 due to insufficient evidence.

The Gleaner reported extensively on the incident and the trials; the stories are all there in The Gleaner Archives. And on January 6 and 13, 2008, 30 years after the massacre, and on March 4, 2015, The Gleaner revisited these extra-judicial killings that the survivors and loved ones of the deceased will never forget.

In the January 13, 2008 story, Ian Brown, one of the survivors, says, “It was my bigger brother who was supposed to go, but when the ambulance and minivan came he was still asleep, so I took his place.”

“Danny Roots, who was originally supposed to go on the journey, became upset when he saw the ambulance and changed his mind. He tried to persuade his dreadlock friend, Trevor Clarke, alias ‘Gold Eye’, not to go, telling him that it was ‘bad luck fe dreadlocks travel ina ambulance’,” The Gleaner story says. Clarke was one of those who died.

The most chilling of the eye witnesses’ story came from Delroy ‘Jadda Brag’ Griffiths, who was 23 years old at the time, unemployed and had two children to support. His name was not among the recruits. However, the morning the transportation arrived, he made sure he got a seat in one of the vehicles. It was a ride to Hell and back.

The killings and the acquittals inspired much public debate, which was further gaslit by Dudley Thompson, an eventual member of Michael Manley’s Cabinet, who also served as vice president of the PNP, senator, and member of Parliament, when he said that “No angels died at Green Bay”. He received much public condemnation for his utterance, for which he subsequently apologised. He later became minister of national security.