A New Montrose man appeared in court on Friday on two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder as police cracked another cold case.
Omari Sargeant, a 26-year-old labourer, appeared before Magistrate John Ballah at the Calliaqua Magistrate’s Court, sitting in Kingstown.
He was charged that on May 16, 2022, at New Montrose, he murdered Elon Barbour aka TV Head, 35, and Daniel Skerrit, 28, both of New Montrose.
Sergeant was also charged with attempted murder in connection with a gunshot injury that Delbert Hogley suffered to his earlobe.
The accused man did not have a lawyer when he was arraigned. He told the magistrate that he did not know he was appearing before the court that day and did not get a lawyer.
Sergeant said that Roderick Jones is usually his lawyer and that he would like the counsel to represent him in the matter.
He was not required to plead to the indictable charge and bail was not open to him at that stage.
The magistrate ordered that Sergeant be remanded in custody and be brought before the Serious Offences Court on Feb. 11, when a date is expected to be set for a preliminary inquiry.
Sergeant 563 Primus of the Major Crime Unit is leading the investigation.
The charges were brought as investigators are said to be taking a closer look at cold cases, a review that also led to the laying of murder charges in connection with the death of Keisha Small and Precious Williams, two homicide cases from 2022.
Sergeant was charged in connection with the shooting that occurred on May 16, 2022, when two masked gunmen approached Barbour and Skerritt near Monkey Puzzle Bar in New Montrose.
Several gunshots were fired, resulting in both men sustaining multiple gunshot wounds. They were transported to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, where they later died.
A post-mortem examination confirmed that they died of gunshot injuries.
The initial iWitness News report at the time of the shooting said that an ex-police officer who was present when the shooting began had returned fire, injuring one of the shooters.
The injured man was said to have recently returned to St. Vincent from another Caribbean country, where he had served prison time for a firearm offence.