A couple wept openly outside the entrance to the Supreme Court on Monday after they got news that their nine-year-old son, Dane Edwards, had drowned in a pond at Toll Gate, Clarendon.

Passers-by gathered to comfort the couple and to find out what had happened.

It was reported that the boy had drowned in a pond which Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica had built as part of a drainage system for a housing scheme to catch storm water.

The boy's parents, Denzil and Ulria Edwards, received the sad news while in court to give evidence on behalf of their neighbour in a case she had brought against Alcoa over the same pond.

The claimant, Orinthia Hanson, of Toll Gate, is contending in the suit she filed against Alcoa, that the pond had caused serious flooding and damage to her property.

Hanson, represented by attorneys-at-law Symone Mayhew and Vaughn Bignall, is contending that the pond overflowed twice in 2002 and once in 2005, flooding out her property and damaging her fowl farm.

Hanson said she lost more than 30,000 chicken, and as a result, lost her contract with Jamaica Broilers, and is seeking compensation.

Alcoa, which is being represented by attorneys-at-law William Panton and Maria Burke, is contending that Hanson's property was flooded by storm water from the road and not from the pond. Alcoa is contending that it is not liable for Hanson's losses.