Soldier’s gun recovered in dead prostitute probe
Sergeant remanded as weapon set to undergo testing
Published:Friday | April 8, 2022 | 12:08 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
The police have found the firearm of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) sergeant who had failed to hand over the weapon, claiming it was stolen, after a prostitute was found dead in his car.
The weapon will now be subjected to ballistic testing.
The woman’s bullet-riddled body was found in the soldier’s car along Caledonia Avenue in St Andrew on February 26.
Investigations led to 43-year-old Theophilus Tracey being taken into custody and charged with failing to hand over his firearm.
Last month, when he appeared in Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, his attorney-at-law, Peter Champagnie, QC, indicated that his client will not be able to satisfy the police’s request for him to hand over his firearm as he was robbed of it.
However, yesterday, when the matter was mentioned, the prosecutor indicated that “something has now been discovered and that thing is now in the custody of the police and they need to do more scientific tests to find out what happened to that thing”.
The court was also told that the police need more time to get further advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on how to proceed and requested another month.
Champagnie, however, argued that his client has been in custody since February and that it would be unreasonable to remand him for another month.
The lawyer also indicated that it was not his intention to apply for bail, but the prosecutor told Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montaque that the sergeant’s stint in the army would be coming to an end soon, and if released, he could flee the country.
The judge was also told that Tracey could also interfere with the witnesses, so he should remain in custody.
But Champagnie countered, saying that there were no witnesses in the case for his client to obstruct “unless he is going to interfere with the investigating officer”.
The judge, in response, said that while she was mindful of the time that the accused has been in custody, waiting until April 28 was reasonable but that the date was really determined by the earliest convenient date in the court’s diary.
Consequently, a mention date was scheduled for Tracey to return to court on May 2, and he was further remanded.
Tracey was charged after he reportedly refused to hand over his gun for ballistic testing in connection with investigations surrounding the death of the unidentified woman.
He was interviewed by the police and reportedly produced his firearm user’s licence and the licence fee certificate but reportedly refused to hand over the weapon, claiming that he wanted to speak to his attorney first.
It is being alleged that he later informed the police that he was robbed of the firearm.