Northern Caribbean University President, Dr Lincoln Edwards calls for urgent crime solution amidst murder of Associate Professor, Dr Gordon Lightbourn.

By: Suzell Wray

Mandeville, Jamaica- President of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Dr Lincoln Edwards is calling on the authorities and the leaders of Jamaica to urgently find a solution to the country’s crime problem.

The NCU community was left in a state of shock and disbelief on Friday, August 7, 2020, when news emerged that 62-year-old Associate Professor in the Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences at NCU, Dr Gordon Lightbourn, was found dead at his home in Sedbergh, Christiana. 

Reports are that he was found lying in a pool of blood with multiple gunshot wounds.

In a news release issued on Saturday, August 8, 2020, by the university’s Corporate Communication Marketing & Public Relations Department, Dr Edwards said that Dr Lightbourn’s untimely death highlights the unacceptable level of crime and violence in the society.

“We call on the authorities and all who desire to lead this nation, to urgently find a solution to this great and appalling malady we call crime. Failure to do so will render all of our efforts towards growth and development, in vain, and doom our nation to the increasing levels of corruption and stagnation.”

He added that Dr Lightbourn’s expertise and work in the area of tissue culture was well known nationally.  

“He was a vital part of the national drive for self-sufficiency in the production of Irish potato, and took seriously, his role of producing Irish potato seedlings in the lab, for distribution to farmers in Central Jamaica,” he said.

Dr Edwards who described the incident as tragic said he notes the expressions of goodwill that have been extended to the family of Dr Lightbourn and to the NCU family during this difficult time.

Meanwhile, some students who knew Dr Lightbourn, and were also taught by him, told the Hilltop Trumpet that they remembered him as a humble, devoted and helpful educator who found passion and purpose in his work.

Final year student in the Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, Andre Campbell, who noted that he knew Dr Lightbourn for over 2 years, described him as a calm and down-to-earth person.

“I got to know him better last semester when I did a class with him and I realized that every class when we’re to have devotion he made certain that the person in charge of it did so. He really believed and enforced the rules of the university.”

Campbell also chucklingly recalled him as someone who would often crack jokes- a behaviour that suited his innately jovial personality.

“I’ve never heard him shout; I’ve never heard him try to start an argument. I’ve never seen that part of Dr Lightbourn. If you have a problem or an issue with an assignment you could also approach him as a student for assistance.

Gladstone Johnson, also a final year student from the department, described Dr Lightbourn as kind, gentle, inspirational, wise and a critical thinker.

Dr Lightbourne operated in his capacity as Associate Professor at the seventh-day Adventist institution for over 8 years.

According to reports, the Manchester police have launched an official investigation into his murder.