January 5 marks 47 years since the infamous Green Bay massacre where persons were taken from their community and killed at a Jamaica Defence Force firing range in Port Henderson, St Catherine.

It was a defining moment in Jamaica’s political history in 1978 as the JDF, under the People’s National Party (PNP) government, was accused of deliberately wiping out influencers from the strong Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) community called ‘South’ or ‘Southside’.

Five persons were gunned down while some escaped in the now famous “nearby bushes” to tell the tale of that gruesome day on January 5, where they were allegedly tricked into believing they were going to get jobs and were taken away in an army ambulance.

The victims hailed from Higholborn Street and Gold Street in the community of downtown Kingston.

 Those killed were:

• Norman Thompson aka “Gutto”, age 27, a former national footballer for Santos football team
• Glenroy Richards age 29, an aspiring reggae singer
• Trevor Clarke, age 26, a labourer.
• Winston Hamilton aka ‘Saddle Head’ age 30, a contractor.
• Howard Martin, age 19, a labourer.

The official report released by the Military was that the men were shot dead after they were surprised by a special Strike Force of soldiers doing target practice with guns smuggled into the country on the Jamaica Defence Force artillery firing range at Green Bay.

This report did not stick, as the people of Southside demonstrated to protest against the killings. An official inquiry and Coroners’ Inquest was later held in the Spanish Town Coroner’s Court where a jury found that persons had conspired to kill the men at Green Bay and that people in the JDF were criminally responsible for the massacre.

In July 1978, warrants were issued by the Supreme Court for ten members of the JDF for first degree capital murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They were all acquitted in 1981 on no-case submissions and those charged for the actual murders were acquitted on February 8, 1982, due to insufficient evidence.

But one of the lucky survivors Delroy Griffiths, now 71 years old, told his story to Our Today’s HG Helps, who was at the Jamaica Observer at the time in 2012, saying he forgave the soldiers.

Griffiths, now called ‘Green Bay’ in his Central Kingston community, told how they were lured to the JDF shooting range with the promise of jobs but ended with bullets coming at them instead.

Several songs depicting the incident were recorded by Reggae artistes Big Youth (father of attorney Isac Buchanan, who was integral in overturning Vybes Kartel’s murder conviction) and Madoo and Kojak called Green Bay Killing a Murder.

Ironically, Griffiths said he took the compensation money of $5,500 he received from the government and gave it to his son to become a soldier, not in Jamaica, but in Germany.