Accused in security guard’s fatal stabbing offered bail; case reopens
Published:Friday | November 28, 2025 | 12:09 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
A Trelawny swim instructor accused of killing a security guard three years ago was on Thursday offered bail in the sum of $400,000 in the St James Parish Court, following a Full Court ruling that overturned his earlier committal and returned the matter to the parish court.
The accused, Kenya Robinson, is charged with the March 10, 2022, stabbing death of security guard Kristoff Hibbert at a lounge in Montego Bay, St James. He is scheduled to return to court on January 21, when prosecutors will indicate how they intend to proceed.
Robinson had previously been committed to stand trial in the Circuit Court for Hibbert’s murder. However, the Full Court quashed the committal order earlier this year, prompting new committal proceedings. Thursday’s appearance was Robinson’s second since the matter was remitted.
According to earlier reports, Hibbert was on duty at the lounge at about 10:56 p.m. when he got into an altercation with Robinson, who was a patron. Hibbert was reportedly stabbed in the chest during the dispute.
As part of his bail conditions, Robinson must report to the Falmouth Police Station twice weekly, surrender his travel documents, and comply with a stop order.
Robinson was first charged in March 2022 and later granted bail by then senior parish judge Sasha-Marie Ashley. After several court dates, Judge Ashley ruled during a committal hearing that he should be sent to the Circuit Court to stand trial.
Defence attorneys Courtney Rowe and John Jacobs objected strongly to the admission of the prosecution’s key eyewitness statement during that hearing. They argued that the statement was non-compliant with the Committal Proceedings Act (CPA) and should not have been relied upon. Judge Ashley admitted the statement regardless, and the matter proceeded to the Circuit Court.
Robinson’s attorneys subsequently sought judicial review, challenging the judge’s decision. On July 11, 2025, Justices Andrea Thomas, Anne-Marie Nembhard, and Dale Staple of the Full Court delivered a ruling overturning the committal. They held that the parish judge had erred in law by admitting a procedurally defective eyewitness statement, which was the only evidence directly linking Robinson to the killing.
The judges found that the document was inadmissible under Section 6 of the CPA because it lacked a mandatory signature from the recording officer. They stressed that this omission “went to the heart” of the statement’s admissibility and could not be remedied by a supplementary police statement.
Given the seriousness of the defect, the Full Court quashed the committal order and directed that the matter begin anew in the parish court before a different judge.
The prosecution’s case depends heavily on the account of the sole eyewitness. During the 2022 preliminary inquiry, defence counsel argued that the flawed written statement could not substitute for oral evidence because the required statutory attestation procedures were not followed. The Full Court agreed, concluding that the parish judge exceeded her powers by relying on the defective statement to find a prima facie case and that the supplemental police note could not “retroactively cure” the defect.