MoBay man, believed to be a serial killer, to have fitness-to-plea hearing on April 28
Published:Monday | February 3, 2025 | 4:33 PM
WESTERN BUREAU:
The St James Circuit Court has ordered a psychiatric report to be prepared for Ronaldo Ricketts, the St James man accused of killing several homeless people in Montego Bay between July and August 2023, ahead of his fitness-to-plea hearing on April 28.
High Court Justice Judith Pusey made the order in relation to Ricketts during his latest court appearance on Friday. Ricketts, who is before the Circuit Court on four counts of murder and two counts under the Sexual Offences Act, was remanded in custody.
During yesterday’s hearing, the prosecution told Pusey that while there was already a report for Ricketts on the case file, an updated report was needed ahead of the fitness-to-plea hearing. Ricketts had previously been declared mentally fit to plead despite being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“We are going to send for the psychiatric report, and we will have the fitness hearing on April 28. The investigating officer is bound over for that date,” Pusey said after hearing the prosecution’s declaration.
Meanwhile, Ricketts’ attorney Martyn Thomas made a successful application for a motor vehicle which was seized from Ricketts to be released to his father, who is the original owner of the vehicle.
Ricketts was arrested by the police on August 30, 2023, on a charge of abduction, with regard to allegations that he picked up the complainant along Humber Avenue in downtown Montego Bay and drove her to Melville Hall Avenue, where he pulled a knife on her and demanded sex. The woman managed to escape from the car and screamed for help, which attracted the attention of a police patrol. Ricketts was taken into custody by the officers.
It is further alleged that, while he was in custody for that incident, Ricketts confessed to the killing and wounding of several homeless people, which took place in sections of Montego Bay between July 28 and August 20 that year. There were seven reported victims, all of whom were alleged to have been stabbed with a sharp instrument while they were sleeping.
The first two victims were a female, whose bodies were found on Jimmy Cliff Boulevard, and a man, whose body was found on Barnett Street, on July 28, 2023.
Following those killings, a man identified only as ‘Junior Cross’ was stabbed on July 30 and was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on August 18.
On August 9, 2023, 20-year-old Leonardo Lewis, otherwise called ‘Raheem’ or ‘Ackeem’, of a Breadfruit Road, Catherine Hall address, was found with stab wounds by residents along Church Lane, and was later pronounced dead. Then, on August 19, an unidentified man was found with stab wounds on St Clavers Avenue, but survived. The following day, another man was attacked in front of the Barnett Street Police Station, but survived, while the last victim, Ken Warren, was attacked and later died.
Ricketts first appeared in the St James Parish Court in relation to the murder charges on September 20, 2023, after being brought to court on the abduction charge on September 13 that year. He had a committal hearing on May 13, 2024, for his matters to be transferred to the Circuit Court for hearing on September 30 that year.