J’can pastor accused of killing wife in Canada remanded
Published:Wednesday | December 24, 2025 | 12:14 AM
Jamaican pastor Alton Farquharson was remanded when he appeared before the London, Ontario court in Canada on Tuesday for a scheduled bail hearing related to a second-degree murder charge.
The 56-year-old has been in police custody since last Friday. He is accused of killing his wife, identified in court documents as Tasha Farquharson.
Farquharson appeared briefly via video link. It was not immediately clear whether he has retained legal representation or when he is scheduled to return to court.
Up to press time, The Gleaner had not received a requested update from the London Police News outlet.
Under Canadian criminal laws, in serious cases like second-degree murder, initial appearances after the first remand are typically procedural, used to confirm legal representation or schedule the next date for reviewing evidence.
London Police responded to reports of an incident at a residential building around 5:15 last Friday morning, where they found a 47-year-old woman with what they described as a “traumatic injury”.
The police, who have categorised the killing as a femicide, did not reveal the woman’s identity, but said she was pronounced dead in hospital.
But multiple media sources in Ontario say the victim was Farquharson’s wife.
He was immediately arrested at the scene and later charged.
In their statement on Friday, police took the step of explicitly stating that the case had been characterised as a femicide, something they had not done previously.
Farquharson reportedly has no prior matters on file at London’s courthouse, court staff said.