Rasbert Tuner, Star writer

The arrest of a man in connection with the mob killing of a teacher last year turned ugly yesterday when residents protested the man's detention.

The police action saw scores of Grove Farm residents in St Catherine blocking the Old Harbour main road in protest against the arrest of Donovan Stewart, a 28-year-old labourer from the community.

Stewart was held in connection with the death Michael Melbourne, a 51-year-old Science and Information Technology teacher from Old Harbour in the parish.

The placard-bearing protesters used stones, pieces of wood and other debris to block the road.

It was their consensus that Stewart was not the person who killed Melbourne.

"How dem fi come lock him up and a nuh him kill di man? We want the police fi let him go," one of Stewart's relatives told THE STAR during the protest. The situation was eventually brought under control by police and the roadblock cleared.

Melbourne was killed after he reportedly drove through a roadblock near Grove Farm. Police reported that while driving through the roadblock he hit someone with his vehicle and was set up and stabbed to death.

The police said investigations led to Stewart's arrest.