THE trial of Erwin Bacchus, who is charged with murdering Jason De Florimonte, was scheduled to continue before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Providence Magistrate’s Court, on Wednesday.

However, Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh, who was scheduled to be cross-examined by defence counsels, Glen Hanoman and Nigel Hughes, failed to appear. The trial was, therefore, adjourned to April 15, 2019, when Dr. Singh is expected to be present.
Bacchus, 45, a hotel proprietor of 260 Fifth Avenue, Subryanville, was on $1.5M bail after being originally charged with manslaughter. However, the manslaughter charge was upgraded to murder on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions; consequently, Bacchus is now on remand.

According to reports, on August 4, 2018, around 01:00hrs, De Florimonte, who lived in proximity to Bacchus’s hotel, was seen abusing a young woman. Bacchus’s employee, a handyman, intervened and De Florimonte armed himself with a rolling pin and a knife and attacked the handyman, who ran into the compound of the hotel. Bacchus, a licensed firearm holder, drew his firearm and fired two warning shots, but De Florimonte continued to attack the handyman. It was then that Bacchus fired several shots at De Florimonte, causing him to be mortally wounded.

An autopsy conducted on De Florimonte’s remains revealed that he was shot three times about his body.