Adrian Frater, News Editor
WESTERN BUREAU:
SHE WAS reluctant to give an interview and she definitely did not want to have her photograph taken. While her family and co-workers consider her a hero, 24-year-old receptionist Jody-Ann Hamilton sees herself as a woman who tempted fate and won.
When Ms. Hamilton, a resident of Alma district in Westmoreland, retired to bed shortly before midnight on Wednesday with her boyfriend, Seymour Godfrey and her six-year-old son, she had no idea of the drama that was to unfold later or the heroics that would have landed her on prime time news.
"At about 3:30 a.m., I was awakened by a nudge in my side by my boyfriend," said Ms. Hamilton in a hushed tone. "He whispered in my ears that he thought an intruder was in the house."
A RUSTLING SOUND
After a brief look around her bedroom, Ms. Hamilton concluded that the sound her boyfriend referred to must have come from the swirling fan and was about to roll over and go back to sleep. But then she heard a rustling sound coming from the region of her living room and kitchen and noticed that her bedroom door was ajar.
"I became frightened and rolled under the bed," said Ms. Hamilton, who noted that she could clearly hear the intruder moving around the kitchen, opening refrigerator and cupboards.
UNSURE
"My boyfriend stood in a corner and seemed unsure about what he should do. I whispered to him, telling him to call his mother (who lives two houses away) on the telephone but he whispered back that he did not have her number.
"I was in the process of giving him the number when the gunman walked in the room. I heard him say, 'bwoy give me all the money yuh got' and I heard my boyfriend saying he did not have any money, I then heard him ask my boyfriend for the pants he had worn to work the previous day and I heard him going through the pants pocket."
Ms. Hamilton said after the gunmen went through the pants and found only $500, he became angry and began demanding more money. She said her heart then sank when she heard the gunman uttered, "Hey bwoy, weh yu gal deh? Me never hear har a talk in yah. Hey gal... yu under the bed... come out right now!"
A fearful Ms. Hamilton said she came out from under the bed and stood face to face with a man pointing a handgun at her chest. "Gal a you got de money nuh? Give me all a de money you have inna de house."
Now a nervous wreck, she picked up her handbag, took out her purse, which contained $2,000, and began walking slowly towards the gunman and started handing him the notes slowly.
"I was hoping that by doing it slowly my boyfriend would come up with an idea to disarm him."
ISSUING THREATS
When the gunman realised that he had only got a handful of money, he became angry and started issuing threats. The loud sound woke up the couple's son and he innocently walked into the room calling "Mommy... Mommy."
"When my son walked into the room, the gunman turned the gun on him," said the mother, noting that her child turned six years old last Friday, the day before she celebrated her 24th birthday.
"I said to him, yu can't shoot him, he is just a baby."
Ms. Hamilton said the gunman then refocused his attention on her boyfriend and ordered him to go under the bed. She said he was slow in responding and the gunman opened fire at him but fortunately the bullet missed and shattered a nearby window.
"He then grabbed me and as I tried to relax and sat calm, I saw the hand with the gun in easy reach and I grabbed his wrist," said Ms. Hamilton, who is still wondering where she got the courage and strength. "We started wrestling for the gun from the bedroom, through the living room and kitchen ending up at the front of the house."
Despite being tossed and bounced about, she refused to let go and managed to bounce the gunman about as well.
"He flung me down and me throw him down back and the two of us hang on to the gun same way," she mentioned.
"When I feel that I had a good grip on the gun, I bawl out to Godfrey (her boyfriend) to come with the machete and he rushed into the kitchen but then called out that he could not find the machete," said Ms. Hamilton. "It was then that I felt the rubber part of the gun in my hand. Realising I had a good grip, I dragged it from him.
"Realising that I had the gun in my hand, I pointed it at him and squeeze the trigger but nothing happened," said Ms. Hamilton. "With the gun now pointed at him, he ran out of the house, (leaving behind, a wig he was wearing)."
.38 TAURUS
Ms. Hamilton then ran, still clutching the gun, to her boyfriend's mother's house where she dropped the weapon on the floor and explained what had happened. They subsequently called the police, who came and took possession of the .38 Taurus the gunman left behind.
"I don't know about being a hero," said Ms. Hamilton, when a co-worker at her Negril workplace identified her as 'Our Rambo'. "I was afraid until I saw him pointing the gun at my son. I would rather die than to have someone hurting my son."
