JCF hails forensic work after 30-year sentence in Jean-Pierre Rhone murder

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has welcomed the 30-year prison sentence handed down to the man who murdered businessman Jean-Pierre Rhone, praising the investigative and forensic work that secured the conviction.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Richard Stewart, who heads the JCF’s Crime and Security Portfolio, commended members of the Criminal Investigations Branch and the Communication Forensics and Cybercrime Division, citing their collaboration as pivotal to the outcome of the case.

“This conviction highlights the precision of modern policing and the evolving capabilities of the JCF,” Stewart said in a statement on Thursday. He noted that meticulous investigation and forensic analysis were critical in linking Clarke to the killing and securing a guilty verdict.

Rhone, a businessman, was reported missing in October 2018. On October 19 that year, relatives searching for him discovered the body of a man in an abandoned building in Port Royal, Kingston. A post-mortem examination later confirmed the body was that of Rhone and determined that he died from strangulation.

Clarke was taken into police custody on October 20, 2018 and subsequently charged with murder, preventing the lawful burial of a corpse, and simple larceny.

The JCF singled out the analytical work of Detective Corporal Anneice Witter-Milligan of the Communication Forensics and Cybercrime Division.

It said her work was "crucial during the trial in establishing a clear link between the two men and secured the guilty verdict".

Clarke, a former employee of Rhone’s family business, New Era Fencing Limited and Property Services, was convicted in October by a seven-member jury in the Home Circuit Court.

Prosecutors told the court that Clarke lured Rhone from his home, strangled him in Port Royal, wrapped his body in a sheet, and buried it under sand.

Following the killing, Clarke fled with the motor vehicle Rhone had been driving and attempted to sell it. He also used the victim’s bank cards in an effort to mislead relatives during the search.

On Tuesday, Justice Carolyn Tie-Powell sentenced Clarke to 30 years’ imprisonment for murder, four years and 11 months for simple larceny, and two years for preventing the lawful burial of a corpse. The sentences are to run concurrently, with six months already served deducted.

In handing down the sentence, the judge described the killing as “truly horrendous” and cited the devastating impact on Rhone’s family, while noting that a determinate sentence was more appropriate than life imprisonment in the circumstances.

During the trial, Clarke claimed self-defence, alleging that Rhone made sexual advances. But that account was rejected by prosecutors, who presented evidence of planning and actions taken after the killing to conceal the crime.

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