May 13 committal hearing date for accused killer of homeless people
Published:Tuesday | May 7, 2024 | 4:08 PMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer -
WESTERN BUREAU:
The St James Parish Court has set May 13 as the date for a committal hearing in relation to Ronaldo Ricketts, the man accused of killing several homeless people in Montego Bay between July and August 2023.
Ricketts, who is charged with multiple counts of murder and is represented by attorney Henry McCurdy, was expected to have undergone the committee hearing during his case's most recent mention on Monday. However, the hearing had to be rescheduled as he had not been brought to court.
During Monday's court proceedings, presiding parish judge Natiesha Fairclough-Hylton was informed that Ricketts had undergone a psychiatric evaluation and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The court was also told that Ricketts is currently on specified medications and requires close monitoring, which was why he was not at court.
Despite the diagnosis, however, the report which was prepared for Ricketts determined that he was mentally fit to plead.
Fairclough-Hylton subsequently set the committee hearing to take place on May 13, at which time it is expected that Ricketts will be brought to court.
Ricketts was arrested by the police on August 30, 2023 in relation to the charge of abduction, following allegations that he picked up the complainant along Humber Avenue in downtown Montego Bay and drove her to Melville Hall Avenue before pulling a knife and demanding sex from her.
The woman managed to escape from the car and screamed for help, getting the attention of nearby police officers who were on patrol at the time. Ricketts was subsequently detained and taken into custody by the officers.
It is further alleged that, while he was in custody for that incident, Ricketts confessed to the killing and wounding of several homeless people, which took place in sections of Montego Bay between July 28 and August 20 that year. It is understood that all the victims, seven in total, were stabbed with a sharp instrument while they were sleeping.
The first two victims, both unidentified and both found on July 28, 2023, were a woman whose body was discovered on Jimmy Cliff Boulevard and a man whose body was found on Barnett Street.
Following those killings, a man identified only as ‘Junior Cross’ was stabbed on July 30 and was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on August 18.
On August 9, 20-year-old Leonardo Lewis, otherwise called 'Raheem' or 'Ackeem', of a Breadfruit Road, Catherine Hall address, was found with stab wounds by residents along Church Lane, and was later pronounced dead.
On August 19, an unidentified man was found with stab wounds on St Clavers Avenue, but survived the incident. The following day, another man was attacked in front of the Barnett Street Police Station but survived, while the last victim, Ken Warren, was attacked and subsequently died.