(Jamaica Observer) The August Town community in St Andrew has been left baffled after 47-year-old Kenneth Grant, a former football coach, was yesterday discovered swinging from an electrical cord at his residence in what the police have since said is a suspected case of suicide.
According to the communications arm of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Grant’s body was spotted at his May Lane address around 1:00 pm by a relative “in a room hanging from a cord affixed to a metal shelf”.
Yesterday, speculations were rife as to whether Grant had taken his life because of legal troubles related to the alleged sexual assault of a minor.
“He had a court case coming up; we don’t know the pressures of the circumstances he was going through. It was for the rape of an infant girl. He was charged for it,” one individual told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
“It is a very difficult situation,” the source added, noting that family members were going through “a really traumatic time”. The Observer was told that Grant, a father of three, was also preparing to welcome another child.
The Observer in the meantime learnt that Grant, who coaches both sexes, was at one time employed to the August Town Primary School in that capacity when the sexual assault allegedly happened. Grant at the time of his death was no longer at that school but was alleged to have gone after at least one other minor. Another source yesterday told the Observer that up to March Grant was working with the children in the community on the team he coaches.
He reportedly protested his innocence in respect of the allegations.
Yesterday, the Constabulary Communications Unit (CCU) was unable to confirm whether there was any truth to the reports of the legal woes facing the former coach.
“We have not been advised of that,” CCU spokesman said.