While a prosecutor argued that a man who killed three people, including his own mother, be kept in prison for the rest of his life, a senior defence attorney urged the court to understand that treating the convicted serial killer’s mental illness is “almost more important than punishment”.
Ramario Antonio Roach, of Ocean Breeze, River Bay, St Lucy, had pleaded guilty to the slaying of Tyrone Austin on December 18, 2018, his mother, Joann Roach, between January 18 and 21, 2019, and Dr Sarah Sutrina between January 20 and 22. He was 18 years old at the time.
He had originally been charged with murder in all three matters, but pleaded not guilty and instead admitted to manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
Noting that it was easy for some to say “los’ him way and punish him”, King’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim insisted that Roach, who suffers from schizophrenia, was not “wicked” but mentally ill, and that the State’s acceptance of his pleas was “because we understood his responsibility was diminished”.
“We cannot come back and say he is a wicked fellow,” the defence attorney added, stressing that one of the issues was that Roach himself did not understand that he suffered from a mental illness.
He pointed out that the Mental Health Act gave guidelines as to how the convicted killer should be dealt stating: “If we argue that a person is sick, first we are to put them in a safe place. We put them in the mental hospital. We put them there, treat them and we are to review them every four years.”
“The (psychiatric) report is saying he can benefit from treatment, but he has to do certain things.”
State Counsel Paul Prescod, who prosecuted the case along with Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC, argued that Roach should be kept in prison for life, pointing to the contents of the psychiatric report.
He said: “He does not accept that he has a mental illness and that taking his medication is important to his mental health and plans to discontinue the same upon his release from prison. He does not acknowledge the impact of the use of cannabis on his mental state…. His lack of empathy towards his victims, the difference between reports, his police statements and the probation officer suggest an attempt to manipulate his narrative or to be viewed as not a bad person to his advantage.
“In conclusion, the report said Mr Roach has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder. He has a high risk of violent reoffending based on the presence of significant historical and clinical risk factors. Additionally, he has a low potential for rehabilitation.”
Prescod noted that the psychiatrist recommended that Roach continue mental health follow-up and taking his medication through the prison’s mental health clinic.
“In essence, Romario Roach, based on the report, is a danger to society and ought to be kept in prison for life. We have three people whose deaths were callous and brutal and devastating to the families, and to release Mr Roach back out there within a period of time can send the wrong message in the circumstances. The mere fact that he has to be in a controlled environment and would not self-medicate is a clear indication that he has a high risk of reoffending…. We have to protect the public,” Prescod argued.
Justice Laurie-Anne Smith-Bovell requested additional case law and adjourned the hearing until December 18.
During his interview with police regarding the death of Austin, 68, of Free Hill, Black Rock, St Michael, whose body was discovered in a bushy area at Walton Drive, Paradise Heights, in the same parish, Roach said: “I hit him with a big rock.”
He told officers it was because the elderly man had asked him for money to buy food and rum and was “confusing me about the money”, and he struck him in the head twice. After being charged, Roach said: “I sorry, I was vex when I do this.”
Roach’s mother’s partially decomposed body was discovered in a watercourse in River Bay, St Lucy, on January 21, 2019. In his statement to the police, Roach claimed that he and his parents had been headed for a sea bath when his father whispered that they needed to kill his mother.
Roach said the two of them hit her on the head several times with a rock before he slit her throat with a knife. There was no evidence that his father had been present or involved in the crime.
On January 22, 2019, the body of Dr Sutrina, of No. 124 Wanstead Gardens, St James, was discovered at Ocean Estate, Northumberland, St Lucy.
Roach told officers that after ordering the university lecturer to take him home at knifepoint, he hit her in the back of the head with a rock as she changed a flat tyre, before stabbing her several times and mutilating her body.
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