Police make arrest in slaying of Berbick

KINGSTON, Jamaica – A 20-year-old man was arrested in connection with the killing of former heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick, who was bludgeoned and left to die in a church courtyard next to his family’s home in a rural hamlet.

Several residents of the remote farming community in Norwich district said the suspect was involved in a land dispute with the troubled boxer.

Les Green, a Scottish detective who this year was appointed assistant police commissioner of the violence-wracked nation, refused to identify the man before his arraignment, which has not been scheduled.

“We have some very good information from witnesses, and we have recovered a weapon we believe was used in the assault,” he said Sunday.

Green would not say what kind of weapon was recovered or where it was found. Police have not disclosed a possible motive or if others were suspected in the slaying of Berbick, who is best remembered as Muhammad Ali’s final opponent in 1981.

Investigators arrested the suspect several hours after Berbick’s body was discovered about 6:30 a.m. Saturday in his hometown parish of Portland, about 80 miles east of Kingston. Berbick, who was believed to be 52, was pronounced dead by a local doctor in the church courtyard next to the three-bedroom house where he was raised.