A Georgetown man who has faced several charges, including attempted murder, rape, wounding and burglary, was found dead in the east coast town on Saturday with apparent gunshot wounds.
The death of Clydon Cato aka Svage, 31, brings the homicide count in St. Vincent and the Grenadines this year to 29 and marks the second killing in the country in one week.
The circumstances surrounding his death are unknown and police are yet to issue a statement.
In May 2023, Cato successfully defended himself in the High Court on a charge that he raped an adult female virtual complainant and also assaulted her, causing actual bodily harm.
A nine-member jury found him not guilty of the charge that he raped the woman on May 2, 2019.
The woman had alleged that she had refused when Cato asked her for sex at a river where they were washing.
The woman alleged that Cato dragged her to some bushes near the river, then raped her.
Cato was serving a sentence for burglary and wounding when he was freed of the rape charge.
Meanwhile, in October 2022, the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court issued a bench warrant for Cato, one week after his trial for wounding was suspended because he twice complained of feeling unwell.
In December 2021, Cato was charged with attempted murder after he allegedly struck Hyron Ryan of Spring Village, Georgetown, with a stone on Nov. 27 that year, resulting in his hospitalisation at the Intensive Care Unit at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital.
The charge was later downgraded to wounding.
The shooting death follows that of Amir Roberts aka Miller, 30, of Lowman’s Leeward in the West Kingstown community on July 24.
Roberts was shot multiple times, including in his head, around 6:40 a.m. along the side of the road, bringing to eight the number of people killed in SVG in July.