Approximately five (5) days after the country recorded its fourth homicide for the year, lawmen have arrested and charged a 33-year-old Shopkeeper from Soubise, St. Andrew in connection with the stabbing death of 37-year-old Labourer Tyrone Bernard of Telescope, St. Andrew on Sunday.
Slapped with an indictable Non-Capital Murder charge was Dexter John who appeared before the Grenville Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, where Magistrate Francine Foster remanded him to the Richmond Hill Prison until July 28.
While information surrounding last Saturday’s fatal stabbing incident is sketchy, sources told THE NEW TODAY that there was an incident earlier in the day, in which the deceased allegedly threatened to take the life of John, who has retained the services of American-trained Attorney Jerry Edwin to assist him in court.
Attorney Edwin has indicated his intention to proceed with a Preliminary Inquiry into the matter, and requested standard disclosure from the Police Prosecution team, which informed the court that they were in the process of finalising the comprehensive list of witnesses.
Head of the Community Relations Department (CRD) Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF), Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Simon Douglas expressed concern with the level of dangerous harm crimes occurring in the big parish of St. Andrew since the start of the year.
ASP Douglas confirmed that the deceased received multiple stab wounds to his back and left arm, during the incident which occurred around 3:30 p.m. on Ben Jones Street in the Town of Grenville, as the big parish hosted its Carnival launch, and officially commemorated Fisherman’s Birthday.
Bernard was rushed to the Princess Alice Hospital at Mirabeau, St. Andrew, where he was pronounced dead.
In an interview with THE NEW TODAY on Thursday, Attorney Edwin, who was providing counsel for the family of the deceased in an unrelated pending drug matter, said “he is extremely sympathetic and grieving for the family of Tyrone Bernard, who he noted is survived by his wife and three (3) infant children.
Noting that the deceased “has had an extremely difficult childhood,” after he and his siblings were “abandoned by parents and left to raise themselves,” Attorney Edwin said Tyrone, who was well known in Grenville as a fisherman has worked hard but was unable to surmount the challenges that life gave him.”
The deceased was the brother of Byron Bernard, who is currently serving a 9-year sentence at the Richmond Hill Prison after being convicted of arson in connection with the burning of a dwelling house in 2018.
