St Catherine man pleads guilty to six counts of manslaughter in Rio Cobre crash

A St Catherine man has pleaded guilty in relation to the deaths of six persons who were killed in a 2016 car crash in the Bog Walk Gorge in the parish.

Thirty-one-year-old labourer Elfargo Slew, who is of Dam Head District, St Catherine, is to be sentenced in the St Catherine Circuit Court by Justice Nicole Simmonds on January 11 next year.

Slew is charged with six counts of manslaughter, having no driver's licence, no motor vehicle insurance coverage and failure to report an accident following the July 11, 2016 crash.

The victims of the crash were: Bishop Steven Ricketts, his sons Chevaughn and Seju along with Benjamin Bryan, Christine Morris and Oneil Robinson, all of Commodore District in St Catherine.

The police had reported that about 1 o’clock on the morning in question, Slew was driving a Suzuki Grand Vitara Sports Utility Vehicle towards Bog Walk with six others aboard.

Upon reaching the Flat Bridge, he lost control of the vehicle which plunged into the Rio Cobre.

The vehicle submerged killing all except Slew.

He fled the scene and the police made an appeal for him to surrender.

Slew subsequently handed himself in to police investigators.

He was subsequently charged.

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