Delano Forbes, 31, has been convicted of murdering Maurison Thomas, a former post office worker who was found dead at his home in All Saints in March 2018.
The verdict concludes the first of four separate murder trials Forbes faces over killings alleged to have occurred between 2017 and 2018. He is also charged in the deaths of Wilfred “Bongo” Williams in Swetes, Shawn Henry in Point and Lisue Williams on All Saints Road. His lawyers requested that each case be heard separately.
Prosecutors relied on circumstantial evidence, including witness testimony, forensic findings and recovered personal items, to prove their case.
A pathologist told the court that Thomas died from catastrophic head injuries and skull fractures caused by extreme force from a blunt object.
The victim’s daughter testified that she went to her father’s home on March 7 after becoming concerned when she could not reach him. She said she saw a person wearing an army-coloured hoodie leaving the house before discovering her father’s body inside.
Police later recovered Thomas’s wallet and a black bag at a pump house where Forbes was found following an alleged prison escape. The items were identified by the victim’s daughter. Investigators also retrieved a deleted video from Forbes’s phone showing him wearing the hoodie and displaying the items.
Forbes’s defence argued that he had been framed and criticised investigators for failing to collect fingerprints or present DNA evidence.