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.
Before the verdict on the final day of the St Ann Circuit Court last week, the court heard about homosexuality, HIV/AIDS, jealousy and hurt as well as graphic violence.
The case involved Howard Ricketts, a security guard at the York Castle High School, who was convicted of murdering his ex-lover, Burnett Thomas, who was also a watchman at the school at the time of his death.
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. He was the new party in the relationship between Thomas and Ricketts.
The prosecution’s case relied heavily on answers Ricketts had given to nearly 100 questions by police at the time of his arrest. Medical evidence also indicated that, contrary to the claim by the defense, Thomas was alive at the time he was stabbed by Ricketts.
GUILTY
In summing up the case to the seven jurors, High Court Judge Justice Viviene Harris explained that they must have no bias or no prejudice when arriving at a verdict in the case as they should not use Ricketts’ homosexuality or his HIV status to convict him. She said morality should not factor in the case, but only the evidence.
The jurors were given the case to decide a verdict at 2:25 p.m. last Thursday, November 3. They returned with a six to one verdict. However, Justice Harris said that in law, she could not accept this verdict as only a unanimous verdict where all jurors agreed could be accepted within an hour.
The jurors went back to deliberate and they returned an hour later with a six to one verdict of guilty that convicted Howard Ricketts of murder.
Ricketts’ attorney, Karen Russell indicated that although the antecedent report was available, she was requesting that a social enquiry report be done.
Ricketts’ sentencing hearing was transferred to the Home Circuit Court in Kingston and will be held on Friday, December 9.
