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His attire would fool anybody that he is insane. Since
his near-death experience at Green Bay, he has become
scared of going out and approaching strangers for jobs.
Instead, he chooses to walk the streets of Kingston and
‘hustle’.”What dem do to the man dem at Green Bay is
total wickedness. Imagine, dem come and promise we
work, then tek we and carry we go a Green Bay fe kill we
off,” relates Griffiths.
The Sunday Gleaner
understands that the job they
were promised was to transport and guard shipments of
illegal guns.
Recounting what took place on January 5, 1978, at
the military range, Griffiths remembered that when the
transportation arrived that morning, the drivers of the
vehicles told them they were going to meet the so-called
boss.
When the vehicles turned off the main road and
disappeared into the bushes, going towards the military
range, Griffiths said several things began racing through
his mind. The closer he got towards the military camp, the
more he became suspicious of the mission.
“Me tell miself seh, if a de boss we going meet fe get
work, then something must wrong, because no boss nah
go de in a bush weh so much soldier deh,” said Griffiths.
When they arrived at the range, there were soldiers all
over. He said a huge and unusual, high-powered weapon
immediately caught his eye. The weapon was partially
concealed in the bushes, pointing in the direction of the
shooting range.
PERMANENT LIMP
Griffiths, who now walks with a permanent limp, said
one of the soldiers then gave orders for them to assemble
at the shooting range, at which the gun was pointing. He
said another soldier pointed to Rudolph Nesbeth and asked
if he was the leader of the group. Nesbeth answered no
and pointed at Winston ‘Saddle Head’ Hamilton.
According to some of the men who were supposed to go
on the trip but had changed their minds at the last minute,
Hamilton was the main man. He was the one who had met
and spoken with a soldier by the name of Junior Star and
had organised everything.
“I watched one of de soldier hug up Saddle Head and
walk wid him, until dem disappear roun a corner. Less
than a minute after dat, me hear a shot fire and then me tell
miself seh, ‘A ‘Saddle Head’ de boy just kill’,” Griffiths
recalls.
He says within seconds after hearing the initial gunshot,
he heard a barrage of shots and saw blue flames coming
from the huge machine gun that was partially concealed in
the bushes. He heard some of his friends scream in pain,
while others shouted that it was a trap.
“Me dive pon the ground and roll. De machine gun dig
up the dirt and me feel stone and dirt start sting me inna
me face,” the Green Bay survivor relates.
He got up and dashed towards the bushes, making his
way towards the sea. During his attempt to escape, he ran
into a soldier.
“When me see de soldier, him point de gun pon me and
fe couple seconds him neva fire. Me run off again. This
time, me mek a dummy run, turn back, dive to the ground
and get up and run again,” Griffiths recounts. “De soldier
open a barrage of shots, but me just keep running, till me
climb down pon some rock near de sea. Me see a boat wid
two fisherman, me signal and dem pick me up and carry
me come a Greenwich Farm,” says Griffiths.
Eventually, the five traumatised survivors - Griffiths,
Rudolph Nesbeth, Ian Brown, Tony Spencer and ‘Fire
Booger’ - returned to the Jamaica Labour Party stronghold
in central Kingston to tell their sad tale.
NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Delroy Griffiths alias 'Jadda Brag' explains his ordeal at Green Bay in 1978.