The two men who police say confessed to the gruesome killing of Dr. Colin Roach were on Tuesday charged with murder. Those charged are 19-year-old Hilton Oliver Junior Franklin and his accomplice, 18-year-old Lenrick Mosai Byass.
The men appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
They were not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that on November 2, 2021, at Lot 111 Duke Street, Kingston, Georgetown, they murdered Dr. Roach.
Both men were remanded to prison until November 30, 2021.
According to reports, the number one accused, Franklin was arrested in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) while attempting to flee the country into neighbouring Suriname via the backtrack route. Meanwhile, Byass was arrested at his place of employment.
Dr Roach who owned and operated the International Medical Centre at Lot 111 Duke Street, Kingston, Georgetown was discovered dead on the floor of his office last week Tuesday, November 2, 2021.
His cell phones, gold rings and Audi SUV were missing.
Fanklin, the alleged mastermind, was arrested a few days after the murder at Corentyne, Berbice just as he was about to flee to neighbouring Suriname via the ‘backtrack’ route.
Dr Roach’s gold rings were found on Franklin, while one of the doctor’s missing cell phones were found in the backyard of the murder accused’s Best Village, West Coast Demerara home. The murdered doctor’s vehicle was found at Schoonard, West Bank Demerara with the keys missing.
Franklin’s accomplice, Byass was arrested at his place of work, a call centre at Robb Street, Georgetown. It was reported that Franklin frequently visited the doctor’s office and that he plotted with Byass to rob the doctor in order to get money to buy a new car.
Franklin in his confession statement told detectives that he lashed Dr Roach to his head with a metal object in self-defense after the doctor made sexual advances towards him after consuming Guinness at his office. Byass told ranks that he and Franklin hatched a plan to rob the doctor.
Byass added that while at the doctor’s office they were imbibing and after some time the doctor gave him some cash and sent him to purchase more Guinness at a nearby shop.
However, on his return, he said, he saw Dr. Roach lying on the floor in a pool of blood. It was then, he said, Franklin told him what transpired and they both removed two gold rings from the dead man’s fingers and US$600 which they divided among themselves.
They then unplugged the DVR and camera in Dr. Roach’s office and took the doctor’s phones along with the murder weapon before leaving in the doctor’s car. Two of the doctor’s male employees who were arrested at the initial stage of the investigations have since been released.
Following investigations, Police detectives sent a file to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) which later advised that the duo be charged with murder.
