This is unreal!!!

Men charged with hotelier's murder set free
Published: Tuesday | May 15, 2012 4 Comments The three men who were charged with the murder of hotelier Sandra McCleod were yesterday freed after Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn decided not to prosecute the case.

The Court was told that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the charge. The men are hotelier Michael Grandison, hotel manager Peter Bandoo and contractor Desmond Blair. McCleod was found strangled in a computer room at the Merrill's Beach Resort in Negril on June 5, 2005. She had gone there to conduct a meeting. At that time, there was a civil suit involving McCleod and Grandison pending in the courts.

The three men were arrested and charged following the murder.The case was transferred from the Westmoreland Circuit Court to the Mandeville Resident Magistrate's Court.The men were represented by attorneys-at-law George Soutar, Dwight Reece and Marcus Greenwood. Senior Deputy DPP Caroline Haye appeared for the Crown.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120515/lead/lead5.html

some background:
Jpublished: Thursday | June 9, 2005

Janet Silvera, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE POLICE in Westmoreland have still not charged the suspects who are being questioned in connection with the murder of former hotelier, 52-year-old Sandra McLeod. The persons being questioned are reportedly a prominent Negril hotelier and his security chief. Sources say that there were no witnesses to the murder.

"We have been conducting some minute bits of investigation," Superintendent John Morris, crime chief for the Area One Police Division told The Gleaner. "It's a difficult case, we are following various leads but, from a security standpoint, we cannot disclose much."

POST-MORTEM RESULT
McLeod was found dead in a computer room at the Merrill's III Beach Resort in Negril, Westmoreland, where she had gone for a business meeting on Sunday evening with the operator of the resort. A post-mortem performed on Wednesday confirmed that she died of strangulation.

The dead woman was the owner of the property, which was leased to a private entity. For several years, she ran the popular small property, Sandy Sand Hotel, located on the seven-mile Negril beach and owned the land adjacent to the resort.

The Gleaner understands that McLeod had had an ongoing dispute concerning properties she owned in Negril and had a case in court in relation to the matter.

There was a sombre mood at McLeod's Montego Bay home yesterday, as friends and relatives came by to commiserate with each other. Some appeared to be in shock and could only offer garbled responses as they spoke with The Gleaner on Monday. Her 16-year-old son, with whom she lived, had to seek medical help.

GROWING FEAR
Mrs. Lucille Rodney, who has known Miss McLeod for 31 years, described the former hotelier as a "daughter". "We lived like one, but she became so afraid these past months, hardly wanting to leave my house to return home when she visited," Mrs. Rodney said. (June 2005)

http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=1779

4/25/08

Michael Grandison and Peter Bandoo are to reappear in court today in connection with the June 2005 murder of owner of the Merrils 3 resort in Negril, Sandra McLeod. It is alleged that arrangements had been made between Mr. Grandison and Ms. McLeod to have a meeting on June 5 at the property, which was not in use at the time because it was being repaired.

The prosecution’s report states that Ms. McLeod went to the property at the time arranged, but Mr. Grandison was not there. It is further alleged that Mr. Grandison later called Mr. Bandoo to ask him if he had seen Ms. McLeod.

Mr. Bandoo went to look for the deceased at the scheduled meeting place and found her strangled in the conference room. It is also alleged that Mr. Bandoo, Mr. Grandison and another person were seen running from the property on the same day Ms. McLeod’s body was found. The prosecution’s allegations are that Ms. McLeod and Mr. Grandison had a disagreement regarding management of the Merrils 3 property and a lease agreement. The matter was being heard before the Supreme Court.

However, the defense team has argued that the disagreement between Mr. Grandison and Ms. McLeod was amicably settled long before June 5 and that there was no evidence linking the men to her death. Sandra McLeod was the mother of Kevin Brown, the Jamaican man suspected of trying to bring the components of a bomb on to a flight at the Orlando International Airport last month.

This is outrageous! Has it come to the point where a murder has to be witnessed in order for the murderers to be charged & tried? I arrived in Negril a couple of days after this happened. A good friend of mine was a close friend of Mrs. McCleod. In fact, Mrs. McCleod had been staying at her home visiting until the evening of her murder. My friend almost went w/ her to the meeting but decided not to at the last minute. There might have been 2 dead hoteliers had she not decided to stay home.

Let me guess... no DNA testing of skin cells that would have been left on the cord used to strangle Mrs. McCleod. Mysterious stranger(s) showed up & killed her for no reason instead of the people who arranged the meeting & who also had everything to gain from her death. This is sickening.

Then there's the whole after story of her son's very public breakdown. No justice in Jamaica, that's for sure.

Yes..and basically even if there is a witness it may not matter at the end of the day.

No real surprise

'Justice' is bought & sold every day...

Maybe one day tings will change

Jamaica easy place to get away with murder. Money talks.

I was there when Sandra was murdered.

Correct cvan.....money talks. You can buy/do ANYTHING in jamaica for money. Such a dirty country in so many ways. My heart goes out to all the locals who have no choice.

what does it take to get justice?

lol @ BP.

Sometimes I wonder if Jamaica wouldn't have been better off staying as a British Colony rather than becoming independent in 1962.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

I've always said this....Independance? umm no way too much debt to ever be independent for starters.

I too say YES they would have been better off as a British Colony.

At the time, one of her good friends told me it was an employee. More mysteries and misunderstandings?

yes Macy you should be scared...scared makes you AWARE and never lose focus. Only the ignorant will say it's all irie. It isn't and you know it. Go ENJOY and stay focused. Thank god you don't do drugs

There is no respect for life, easy come easy go. You can't tell me anything different, I know this.

And everyone knew that Claudia and her man were murdered in her house. I know that her Mother came from Germany to rent it out. Everyone knew that. Jane knew it and she was the first one in it. Then it was rented out.

The very real and dark side to Paradise.

Murder comes easy, it's an easy fix to get someone out of your way.

To make a point, in Logwood, 20 minutes from Negril there were 9 murders in the month of March. In the first week of April there were 2 murders in the little community of Orange Bay. When a neighbor asked me if I noticed there was a lot of dead yards, I replied, more dead yards then weekends in a month. People are used to it, they talk about it for a week, maybe two, then it's laid to rest and on to the next tragedy. It's a real eye opener, anyone who lives there and isn't living in a dream state or always under the influence, will face this reality.

Life is not so precious. Not in Jamaica.

ITA...maximum respect to you for keeping it REAL.