Absent witnesses, jurors delay trial of security guard in ‘Slickianna’ murder case

The long-anticipated trial of Rohan Rose, the security guard charged in relation to the death of social media influencer Aneka 'Slickianna' Townsend, failed to proceed today in the St James Circuit Court due to absent witnesses and jurors.

It was indicated that witnesses for the prosecution were not advised to attend court today nor were members of the jurors for the trial present as they too were not summoned.

As a result, the trial was rescheduled for March 19, 2024.

Bail was extended for Rose, who is charged with misprision of a felony.

This is where someone knows about a crime but fails to report it to the authorities.

Rose was reportedly told about Townsend's killing by Rushawn Patterson, the man charged with her murder, but did not report the matter to the police.

Townsend's body was retrieved from the sea off the Reading coastline in St James on the morning of Friday, October 21, 2022, by the marine police.

A subsequent post-mortem examination concluded that she was strangled.

It is reported that Rose was arrested and charged on November 4 last year, two days after Patterson was arrested in a special police operation.

Rose subsequently gave the police a statement regarding Patterson, which led to the latter being formally charged with Townsend's murder on November 11.

In the meantime, Patterson's case was also mentioned today but was put off until October 4 as he was not brought to court.

It is understood that he is currently in custody at the Half-Way-Tree police lock-up in St Andrew, but that there were no available facilities for him to attend today's court sitting via the Zoom platform.

- Christopher Thomas

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