ALEXANDER VON Starck, the 32-year-old German national, whose murder case seven years ago generated great public interest, died in the St. Catherine District Prison last year November but so far the death has not been reported to the St. Catherine Coroner's Court.
He had been serving a 15-year prison sentence since June 2000 for manslaughter.
Von Starck's case is a precedent in cases where crimes are committed under the influence of narcotic drugs. Reports are that Von Starck died as a result of self-inflicted stab wounds. A spokesman from the Germany Embassy confirmed that Von Starck was dead but said that was the only information that could be given.
The Sunday Gleaner made efforts on Friday to get a comment from Acting Commissioner of Corrections Earl Fearon but was told he was in a meeting. Ken Smith, a clerk at the Coroner's Court in Spanish Town, said on Friday that his office did not have a report of Von Starck's death. He said the normal practice was that the death was reported to the Coroner but, in cases where the person died in violent circumstances, the death would also be reported to the Coroner but the police would conduct investigations and submit the files at a later date to the Coroner.
Von Starck was convicted on October 4, 1996 of the murder of 22-year-old Michelle Kernoll, a Jamaican woman whom he had met while holidaying in the island. She was fatally stabbed in a room at the Sea Shell Hotel, Montego Bay on July 29, 1995. Ms. Kernoll died leaving a son and the Administrator-General who is representing Kernoll's estate filed a suit to get damages to assist in the maintenance of her son.
The suit had to be adjourned last week because when a process server went to the prison to serve the relevant documents on Von Starck, he was informed that Von Cork had died.
Attorney, Rudolph Smellie, who is representing the Administrator-General, told The Sunday Gleaner last week that steps are now being taken to see if a settlement can be reached or whether another person can be joined in the suit. He said he was going to have dialogue with Lord Anthony Gifford, Q.C., who represented Von Starck in the criminal proceedings. Ms. Kernoll was a hairdresser earning $8,000 per month at the time of her death. Compensation is being sought for her son Tavani Scolaspico on the basis that Ms. Kernoll lost her normal expectation of life and her near relations and estate have suffered loss and damages. The suit was filed on July 27, 2001. Von Starck told the police shortly after his arrest and in a caution statement that he was under the influence of cocaine and did not know what had happened.
