03.05.2006 - fonte: 365GAY.COM

GUILTY IN LILLING OF JAMAICAN GAY LEADER

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Kingston) A 25 year old man pleaded guilty Wednesday to the 2004 killing of Brian Williamson, Jamaica's leading LGBT civil rights advocate.

Dwight Hayden will be sentenced on May 19th. Williamson's body was discovered in his Kingston apartment on June 7, 2004 by a roommate returning home from work. Williamson was lying facedown in a pool of blood. He had been stabbed at least 70 times in the neck. Hayden was charged in 2004 with murder and robbery. A second man, known only as "Bombhead" is still being sought in connection with the killing. The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), which Williamson founded, branded Williamson's murder a "hate-related crime".

In a statement the the group said Williamson was "one of Jamaica's most courageous human rights activists" who was killed because he is gay.Police have maintained the murder was a robbery gone wrong and not a hate crime, but on Wednesday the prosecutor suggested he may seek a hate crime enhancement at sentencing.

Hayden's attorney asked the court for a psychiatric evaluation of his client to determine whether it was a hate crime.At least 30 gay men are believed to have been murdered since 1997, according to J-FLAG. In March four people were charged in the killing of another gay man - Lenford "Steve" Harvey who ran Jamaica AIDS Support for Life. (story)

Rap and Reggae music frequently contain lyrics calling for violence against gays and has to a call by British rights leader Peter Tatchell for hate crime prosecutions in the UK against the artists and the distributors of their music. (story)