AN ORGANISATION CLAIMING to be Christians under the name 'We Care' is offering a reward for the capture of Peter King's killer(s). But, both Crime Stop and Operation Kingfish deny they have signed off on any deal with the group.
Ambassador Peter King was found dead in his house on Waterloo Road in March. Since then, the police have identified a man whom they believe is a suspect in the murder. It is for this reason that We Care has put up a reward.
We Care, which is made up of 100 Jamaicans living locally and overseas took out a full page ad in the THE WEEKEND STAR on April 13 offering a $500,000 reward for the capture of the ambassador's killer(s). In the ad, the organisation asked members of the public to contact Operation Kingfish or Crime Stop with information which could help to capture the killers.
But, Operation Kingfish and Crime Stop have denied signing an agreement with the group.
"We don't know anything about the organisation, and as we said last week we were not contacted, and we did not give permission for our logo to be used," said Sergeant Steve Brown of Operation Kingfish.
We Care said they had placed the ad in the hope that anyone with information would pass it on to the police.
"We supposed they will all take relevant information from the public and do their duties regardless of a reward and that includes Kingfish. If Kingfish gets information from the public then they must act, and move to bring the killer to justice with or without a reward offering," said Michael Machiavelli, communications officer for We Care.
Machiavelli added that his organisation has also contacted Crime Stop and made the deposit to the crime prevention fund. He said his organisation was working with the police to catch the killer(s).
Crime Stop confirmed they were contacted by 'We Care' but said they had not signed an agreement with the group to offer a reward.
"We have not received the money yet so we have not signed off on anything and we won't sign anything until it(the money )is received," said Prudence Gentles, Co-ordinator for Crime Stop.
"The amount being offered is $250,000 for the arrest of King's killer(s) and another $250,00 upon conviction so the ad was wrongly worded and we asked them to remove it because they had no approval from me," she added.
In explaining what happened, Machiavelli said his organisation was not working against the police. He added that the ad has been corrected but defended the reason behind including Operation Kingfish in the ad.
"Is Kingfish a law enforcement agency? If yes, then we do believe it reasonable to place the contact number on the advert, so that people can contact them when they are ready to turn the killer over to the police. However, we spoke to Mrs. P. Gentle and sent several communiqus regarding our intention and efforts," he said.
Machiavelli said We Care did not believe King's death was a hate crime nor were they worried about being labelled a gay group although rumours have swirled about tapes found at King's house which supposedly details homosexual activities.
Machiavelli adds that 'We Care' will offer rewards for other murders in the future but said King's death was the beginning of the organisation's campaign to reduce Jamaica's murder rate.
"We are especially interested in the Ambassador's case because of his profile, the way in which he was assassinated, and the loss to Jamaica's potential earnings without his expertise. The organisation will continue its efforts in helping to bring violent criminals to justice in Jamaica," he said.
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