Taxi operator charged with abduction, rape of 10-y-o girl remanded

CLARENDON, Jamaica— Damion Beckford, the 37-year-old Clarendon taxi operator charged with the September 8 rape and abduction of a 10-year-old girl in May Pen, was remanded today when he appeared in court. Beckford, a resident of Canaan Heights in Clarendon, was charged with both offences on Monday, four days after he was detained by the police. When he made his first appearance in the Clarendon Parish Court on Thursday, the case was mentioned in-camera, and he was remanded to reappear in court on Monday, October 26. Police said on September 8, the schoolgirl exited a taxi at the entrance of Mineral Heights Housing Scheme while on her way to school when a man approached her and persuaded her to get into his vehicle. Police said the child was abducted and taken to a neighbouring community where she was sexually assaulted in a heavily vegetated area before being released in the vicinity of her school by the abductor. A report was made to primary school staff and the child was taken to hospital. The police were subsequently alerted of the incident. — Kasey Williams