Gabriel King’s Murder Investigation Halted Due to Inability to Access His Mother’s Phone, Mother Reportedly Goes to Canada
The mystery behind Gabriel King’s murder is yet to be solved, as his mother, Amoi Leon Issa, has not yet granted the police access to her cell phone. A high-ranking police investigator disclosed that the phone’s contents could provide crucial insight into the tragic death of the nine-year-old. According to the senior detective who spoke to the Jamaica Gleaner, the phone contains “communication that is linked to the investigation” of the boy’s murder.
However, Leon Issa’s attorney labelled the police’s attempt to access the iPhone as “disingenuous” and rejected their claim. The investigator reported that while the police have the phone in their possession, the probe has been put on hold due to Leon Issa’s unwillingness to assist the authorities and her disregard of a court order from last September to disclose the password.
Leon Issa, a businesswoman in western Jamaica, left for Canada some time ago, according to a Jamaica Gleaner report that cited information from the senior investigator. The investigator stated that Leon Issa could now be arrested for disobeying the court order. The senior police officer also shared that when the police gain access to the mobile phone, a forensic expert will conduct the necessary inquiries into the data.
In the meantime, Leon Issa’s attorneys are contesting the order due to concerns about privacy rights. The report also outlined that Leon Issa declined to answer a majority of the detective’s questions when she was in the presence of her lawyer. One of her lawyers, Chukwuemeka Cameron, asserted that the police were trying to “protect or polish over their inefficiencies,” such as going to the relevant telecommunications company and getting access to the phone.
A retired judge confirmed this method, stating that the “police or prosecution can apply for a court order for the telecommunications service provider to release the relevant conversations.” The prosecution of Vybz Kartel, in which the two major telephone companies presented recordings of conversations, was one of many instances where the telecommunications providers assisted in a court case.
Cameron further disclosed that Leon Issa attempted to “create an opportunity” to offer the needed information by writing the police three letters, but there was no response.
On January 13, 2022, Gabriel King, an autistic child, was discovered with his throat slashed in the back of his mother’s Audi SUV in Fairfield, St. James. His mother reported that she was cautiously navigating the car around a pothole along Tucker Main Road towards downtown Montego Bay at approximately 9:30 a.m. when two men suddenly attacked her.
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She asserted that the assailants slapped her in the face, dragged her from the car, and drove off in her car while Gabriel was still in the backseat. At around 11:00 a.m., during a police search, Gabriel’s body was found in the abandoned car with the murder weapon, a bloody knife. On March 4, 2022, Gabriel’s remains were cremated.
