Man pleads guilty to killing elderly Jamaican-Canadian couple in St Thomas
Published:Wednesday | July 28, 2021 | 4:16 PM
Twenty-five-year-old Fabian Skervin has pleaded guilty to two counts of non-capital murder for the killing of an elderly Jamaican-Canadian couple in Retreat, St Thomas.
Non-capital murder is where an offence is not punishable by death.
The St Thomas resident pleaded guilty when he appeared in the Home Circuit Court today.
Justice Lorna Shelly Williams put off sentencing to October 1.
Last week, an adjournment was granted for defence lawyer Anthony Williams to discuss a psychiatric report with Skervin.
Williams had said last month that based on the report, the defence would be able to determine how to proceed.
Skervin is jointly charged with his girlfriend Nikia Thompson, whose bail was today further extended.
The man remains in custody.
It was reported that Skervin gave a cautioned statement to the police in which he said he was under a mental delusion and had heard two voices, one telling him to kill and the other not to kill.
Williams said his client had mentioned feeling “a ball of fire” over his head.
Williams, in applying for a psychiatric evaluation last month, said it would help to determine Skervin's state of mind at the time of the incident.
Melbourne Flake, 81, and his wife 70-year-old wife Etta were found dead at their dream vacation home in Retreat, St Thomas on January 9, 2018.
Their hands and feet were bound.
It was reported that the husband had wounds to his head and the wife was reportedly suffocated.
The couple, who were Jamaicans, had lived in Canada for 50 years.
They were killed at their home and their ATM cards were stolen and used to make various purchases including a wedding ring.
Skervin worked with the couple as a handyman.
The case was transferred from the St Thomas Circuit Court to Kingston.
- Barbara Gayle
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