Security guard in ‘Slickianna’s’ murder case to return to court next year

WESTERN BUREAU:

Rohan Rose, the security guard who was charged for allegedly concealing information he had received about the death of social media influencer, Aneka ‘Slickianna’ Townsend, who was murdered in Montego Bay in 2022, is slated to stand trial in the St James Circuit Court on January 27, 2026.

Rose, who is charged with misprision of a felony and failing to report a crime to the authorities, appeared in the St James Circuit Court on Thursday. He had his bail extended by presiding High Court Justice Andrea Pettigrew-Collins after receiving the new trial date.

The prosecution told Judge Pettigrew-Collins that the file is incomplete as two statements are outstanding, including a statement from a justice of the peace. It was also disclosed that the investigating officer, to whom the matter was assigned in 2024, was absent due to illness.

However, Rose’s lawyer, Martyn Thomas, expressed dissatisfaction with his client’s trial being delayed, pointing out that the matter has been set for trial approximately seven times.

“This matter has been on the trial list since 2023. It returned to the mention list on May 9, 2023, and was again placed on the trial list, and we have seen seven trial dates for it thereafter,” said Thomas.

Meanwhile, Pettigrew-Collins questioned whether the investigating officer knew from beforehand that the outstanding statements should have been completed in a timely fashion.

“I am going to ask you to contact the superior for this officer, because I do not understand how these matters are on the list for years and I am being told today that two statements are outstanding. What I am trying to understand is whether he [investigator] was aware that these two documents were outstanding … if he was reassigned to the matter and no information was transmitted to him, then he would hardly have done anything,” said Pettigrew-Collins.

The judge also ordered that subpoenas be issued for the prosecution’s witnesses to appear in court when the matter resumes in January next year.

According to the allegations, Rose was told about Townsend’s killing by Rushawn Patterson, the man who was charged with her murder, but he did not report the matter to the police.

Townsend’s body was retrieved from the sea off the Reading coastline in St James on the morning of Friday, October 21, 2022, by the marine police. A subsequent post-mortem examination concluded that she was strangled.

It is reported that Rose was arrested and charged on November 4, 2022, two days after Patterson was arrested in a special police operation. Rose subsequently gave the police a statement regarding Patterson, which led to the latter being formally charged with Townsend’s murder on November 11 that year.

Rose’s latest court appearance took place one day after a court hearing in relation to the case against Patterson, who was killed during a reported police operation in Hanover on February 25 this year, while he was out on bail. The St James Circuit Court will have a case management hearing on November 14 to formally close Patterson’s case-file.