Holness announces $3m reward for arrest of persons who abducted JLP election worker
Published:Monday | June 16, 2025 | 12:11 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, the leader of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), has announced a $3-million reward for information leading to the arrest of the people involved in the abduction of JLP election worker Lorna ‘Nikki’ Robertson.
“We find it a very troubling occurrence and we do not intend to stop until we find out who are the people behind it, whoever they are connected to,” Holness said while speaking to party supporters at a West Rural St Andrew JLP long service awards ceremony at Stony Hill HEART Academy in the parish on Friday night.
Robertson was kidnapped by people in a van along Hope Road, in the vicinity of the Diabetes Association of Jamaica, on the morning of May 30.
Surveillance footage of the incident shows a woman, believed to be Robertson, walking along the roadway when a van pulls up beside her. A man, also seen walking along the same path, suddenly grabs Robertson and forces her into the vehicle, which then sped off.
The police have launched an investigation in the matter.
Head of the St Andrew Central Police Division, Superintendent Mark Harris, told The Gleaner yesterday that the police have identified persons of interest, and that the investigation is “far advanced”.
Kevin Frith, JLP caretaker for South East St Andrew, had initially indicated a $500,000 reward for her safe return, while urging the police to act with urgency to locate her.
PARTY WORKER KILLED
In a statement on his Instagram account on June 7, Frith also highlighted that another party worker was shot and killed in his home on Old Hope Road in April.
He noted that he and party workers in the constituency were “particularly concerned and agitated amid the recent developments”.
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for South East St Andrew, the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Julian Robinson said Robertson was well liked and lamented her disappearance.
During the Trafalgar annual divisional meeting held at Gaystead High School recently, he rejected suggestions that her abduction was politically motivated.
“My name can’t call in certain things because I lead and I represent with integrity,” Robinson said. “And I want to say to the Labourite dem, mi nuh need fi deal wid dat fi win. I am confident that I will win back this seat, I know the margins that I will win this seat by… . Mi nuh wah nuh man suggest seh PNP a deal wid dem thing deh, ‘cause PNP nuh deal wid dat inna dis constituency,” he said.
The prime minister, in the meantime, stressed the importance of solving Robertson’s disappearance.
“We have been taking note of it, we hear certain squeals happening, and I am very hopeful that the police will eventually find a lead because such a crime should not go unsolved,” he said.