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 prosecutionâ€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. McLeodâ€s body was found. The prosecutionâ€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.