A man, who was convicted of participating in the murder of his male ex-lover, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston on Friday, March 3.
The convict, Howard Ricketts, will serve 22 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
The disclosure was made by deputy director of public prosecutions, Maxine Jackson to The Times last Friday. Ms Jackson was the lead prosecutor at Ricketts’ trial last year.
The sentencing was handed down by High Court Judge, Justice Viviene Harris.
It was one of those murder cases that would cause anyone to shudder.
It involved a man murdering his male ex-lover. And there was a third male involved – a younger man who came into the relationship and the house shared by the two male lovers.
It was a case that dominated the 2016 Michaelmas session of the Circuit Court where the court heard about homosexuality, HIV/AIDS, jealousy and hurt as well as graphic violence.
At the time, Howard Ricketts, who was a security guard at the York Castle High School, had been in a ten-year relationship with his ex-lover, Burnett Thomas, who was also a watchman at the school at the time of his death.
However, the relationship turned deadly after a third man, Neville Lewis, alias Garnett, accused Thomas of infecting him with HIV.
The headless body of Thomas was found partially burnt at a house in the community of Lincoln, near Brown’s Town, St Ann where he had lived with Ricketts. The body was found on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at about 8:30 a.m.
The discovery was made after residents reportedly saw smoke coming from a back room in the house and went to investigate.
Thomas’ decomposing head was found on March 29, 2012, about two miles from the Lincoln community in a yard, in a community known as Cockpit.
Howard Ricketts was charged on April 2, 2012 with the murder of Burnett Thomas and under caution he said, “Offica a di bwoy Garnett cause dis pon me. Him say mi fi help him and look wha’ happen.”
‘Garnett’ was a reference to Neville Garnett Lewis, who has already been convicted for his part in the murder after he pleaded guilty on May 24, 2014. He is serving 25 years in prison.
RICKETTS TESIMONY
In an unsworn statement from the dock, Ricketts had told the court that on the morning of the incident, he observed Thomas and Lewis arguing and this took them from the bedroom to the living room.
Rickets said he saw Lewis use a machete to chop Thomas in the left side of his neck. He said Lewis told him that he had to take part in the act, because Thomas infected them both with HIV.
At that time, Rickets said he was crying, but he assisted Lewis to pull Thomas to the bedroom and placed him on the bed on his back. Ricketts said that Lewis forced him to participate in the murder. He said Lewis threatened that if he did not he (Lewis) would turn on him next.
Ricketts then inflicted stab wounds to chest and intestinal area with a machete, but at the time, Thomas was already dead.
He had contended that Lewis had used the machete to sever Thomas’ head before he (Ricketts) inflicted the stab wounds.
The head was then placed in a rice bag.
However, medical evidence also indicated that, contrary to the claim by the defense, Thomas was alive at the time he was stabbed by Ricketts.
A pathologist with the Ministry of National Security testified that Thomas did not die because of the severing of the head, but because of the stab wounds that were inflicted to him.
The prosecution’s case also relied heavily on answers Ricketts had given to nearly 100 questions by police at the time of his arrest.
The jurors on Thursday, November 3, 2016 returned a six to one verdict of guilty against Ricketts.
His sentencing had been delayed on two occasions since that time.
