A 21-year-old man has been charged with murder in connection with the 38th homicide in St. Vincent and the Grenadines this year.
Jevonte John, of Barrouallie, appeared before the Serious Offences Court, on Monday, where Senior Magistrate Colin John read him the indictable charge.
John is charged that he murdered Jeffon Junior Norton, of Barrouallie, in the Central Leeward town on Friday, Oct. 11.
The magistrate told the defendant that he was not allowed to plead at that stage to the indictable charge and that bail was not open to him.
Norton was pronounced dead at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, where he was taken after being stabbed.
John’s lawyer, Grant Connell, told the court that the issue of no bail for people accused of murder will soon be addressed because it touches and concerns what is enshrined in the Constitution.
He said having a regular preliminary inquiry is not a road he chooses to walk anymore, adding that he wants to do a paper committal.
Connell said another issue was that John was charged with murder although he had been in custody since Friday and did two interviews in which police had put to him that he committed an act that caused Norton’s death.
The lawyer said he was in “a bit of a quagmire because the post mortem is not complete” but the Director of Public Prosecution had advised acting Sergeant 666 Francis, who is the lead investigator, to lay a murder charge.
“… if the post mortem finds it is an aneurysm, then what?” the lawyer said.
He suggested that the matter be recalled on Thursday, adding that he did not know if the authorities had done a post mortem or intended to do one.
Connell said that during the first interview that police had with his client, he (Connell) had asked if the autopsy had been done and the police had said no.
However, the prosecutor Inspector of Police Renrick Cato, told the court that he understood that the post mortem had been scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday.
Connell said that police had shown him a document signed by the doctor at the Accident and Emergency Department of the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, giving the case of Norton’s death.
“So I don’t know who does the post mortem …, whether it is the A&E doctor or Dr. Child,” Connell said, referring to the pathologist.
Cato told the court that the prosecutor had identified 14 witnesses so far.
The matter was adjourned to Thursday.
Another problem between the ” small businessmen ” the big businessman is nowhere to be found or hear from but he is there applying pressure and giving orders ,this is svg today
Hard to tell..maybe innocent..eating an apple like it’s just another day, or.