Ex-MP says he cheated death during home invasion

Paul Buchanan says he narrowly escaped death after "men invaded my home to kill me" in the run-up to the September 3 general election.

But the defeated People's National Party (PNP) candidate for St Andrew West Central did not attempt to link the home invasion to politics. He said that the break-in happened months before the election. He explained that his late brother, who was ill at the time, had accidentally left the gate open.

"Two men breached the premises door and got into my home while I was asleep," he told THE WEEKEND STAR. "They got in and surprised me... [They] broke in and took some things," Buchanan recalled.

The men made off with valuables, as well as the keys to his motor vehicle. He vividly described the terrifying moment he managed to slip away.

"When they stick me up, I used a fly door in a moment when they relax. It slam locked and that save mi life. But they took certain things, and I didn't even remember I had a spare key in a black bag. They came back about a week later and just drove away the car," he said.

Buchanan claims his firearm was stolen last October during a crime in the constituency which he contested against Jamaica Labour Party leader and Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness. He said the weapon was in his vehicle at the time it was stolen.

Nearly a year since the incident, Buchanan is left unarmed and he is not amused. He has blasted the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) for dragging its feet on reinstating his firearm licence, despite what he described as a spotless record.

"I had a gun for over 20 years. No infringement, no nothing. The police at Constant Spring, the police at Hunts Bay -- every check recommended I should get back my firearm," he said.

The FLA approved a permit for him to reclaim his firearm, but he missed the deadline to complete the firearm purchase. Buchanan then requested an extension, which the FLA refused, a determination that has left him livid. He added that the bureaucratic hurdles left him like a "sitting duck", completely exposed.

"You deny a citizen of this country the protection that he deserves, and on top of that, the whole thing was exacerbated by the fact that I was running in a violent election, and men invaded my home to kill me," he said.