THE preliminary inquiry (PI) into the murder of Jason De Florimonte, allegedly by Erwin Bacchus, continued before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Providence Magistrate’s Court, on Tuesday, April 16, 2019.

At Tuesday’s hearing, lead attorney for the defence, Nigel Hughes, did not appear because he is out of the jurisdiction.The PI was therefore adjourned to April 29.

Bacchus, 45, a hotel proprietor of 260 Fifth Avenue, Subryanville,Kitty, 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.