Gay Men Murdered

A reader sends this article on several gay men murdered in Jamaica with homophobia as a clear motivation behind the crimes:

BRITISH CONSUL MURDERED IN JAMAICA

An honourary consul to the British High Commission in Jamaica was found brutally murdered in his Montego Bay home on Sep 9.

John Terry was found naked, wrapped in a bloody sheet, with a cord wrapped tightly around his neck. He had been brutally beaten in the head. There was reportedly a note left with Terry's body that read, "This is what will happen to all gays." It was signed by "Gay-Man." Police reported that Terry likely knew his assailant.

Terry lived in Jamaica since 1967 and was an honourary consul for 13 years. He became a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1982.

Jason Mcfarlane of the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians Allsexuals and Gays says at least one of the members of his organisation knew Terry.

Based on the note that the press says was found and the contents of it, and the fact the person had time to sit and write it, it's really premeditated and clearly homophobia linked."

This is only the latest in a long string of eerily similar homophobic murders in Jamaica. In 2004 the semi-nude and butchered body of gay activist Brian Williamson was found in his New Kingston apartment. He was reportedly stabbed and chopped at more than 70 times with a machete. Eyewitnesses to the aftermath say his neighbours gathered to gawk and celebrate his death in the street outside his home. A young male newspaper vendor subsequently pleaded guilty to the killing.

In 2006 Jamaica's highest ranking trade official, Peter King, was found brutally murdered in his Kingston home. He was reportedly found naked with stab wounds to his upper chest. His throat was slashed and, according to several sources, his genitals had been hacked from his loins and stuffed in his mouth. A man was sentenced on a manslaughter charge in King's death earlier this year.