‘We haven’t got a hand on him’


THE St Thomas police have vowed that there will be no let-up in their search for Davian Bryan, the man suspected of having abducted two girls in Bath, St Thomas, some two weeks ago.

“We have not yet apprehended him but our search continues in the areas of Bath. We have extended to others areas but we are trying to contain the information that we send out,” head of the St Thomas police, Superintendent Allison Byfield told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

She said up to Wednesday a search had been carried out for Bryan who is already before the court on rape and illegal possession of firearm charges in Portland.

“It was a day and night search; it is not just a particular time. It is our main priority for the St Thomas division to locate the suspect in the abduction of the two females,” said Byfield.

“We are having reports of sightings of him in different sections of the parish and we have to be analysing the information that we receive and are acting on it,” added Byfield.

She noted that the Portland police are also on the lookout for Bryan, as he is from that parish.

According to Byfield, the police are checking the border of the two parishes as well as in his Portland community.

The two girls, nine-year-old Phylisa Prussia who is a student at Bath Primary and Junior High School and 13-year-old Winshae Barrett, a student at Morant Bay High School, were found alive after it was alleged they were abducted by Bryan.

Prussia was reported missing by her mother on October 14 after she was abducted from her home in Bath while playing with her puppy. She was found some time after 1:00 pm in Arcadia, in the parish, on Saturday, October 16.

A few hours after she was found, Barrett was reported missing some time after 4:00 pm on the same day. Barrett was then found on October 18 in heavy foliage outside Spring Bank, a neighbouring community to Bath.

There has since been an increasingly louder outcry by the public for the police to capture Bryan.

“I can understand, [especially with] the nature of the offence of the abductor, persons are fearful at this time. And as you can hear from the CPFSA [Child Protection and Family Services Agency], the children and their parents from Bath are still fearful, they are traumatised — and rightfully so. We can understand, but we have just not gotten a hand on him,” said Byfield.