Three men were brought to the Magistrates’Court on Friday charged with the murder of Devern “Snoopy” Stanley, whose decomposed body was found in Rogues Bay on July 28, 2016.

Dakheme “Kemo” Cheltenham, 24, of Belle Vue, and Kareem “Blacker” Durant, a 30-year-old inmate of Her Majesty’s Prison, appeared before Magistrate Ayana Baptiste-DaBreo alongside Vicardo “Scar” Farrell, of Long Look.

Mr. Farrell first appeared before the court in 2017 charged with the murder as well as attempted abduction. Now, Messrs. Cheltenham and Durant have been added onto Mr. Farrell’s case and all three men face a murder charge.

“Is that the only charge?” Mr. Farrell asked the magistrate, who responded, “Yes. Should there be more?”

The incident

Crown Counsel Nick Saunders alleged that on the night of June 4, 2016, Mr. Stanley was at Club Edge with some friends before they moved to Club Crystal at around 2:30 a.m.

According to CCTV footage, Mr. Saunders said, Mr. Stanley left the club without his friends but was soon confronted by Messrs. Cheltenham and Durant. They escorted him to the front of the parking lot, where a group was “lurking” near a container, according to the prosecutor. This group included Mr. Farrell and other unknown individuals, Mr. Saunders said.

Mr. Stanley was seen walking behind Mr. Durant in the footage, and once he reached the group of people, there was a commotion, according to the Crown. The defendants appeared to force Mr. Stanley into a blue Jeep Liberty, which left Club Crystal in the direction of Purcell Estate alongside a blue-and-silver Mitsubishi and a silver Suzuki, Mr. Saunders said.

This is also the general direction of Rogues Bay, where Mr. Stanley’s body was found nearly two months later, the prosecutor explained, adding that one of the vehicles got into an accident and was separated from the other two.

CCTV footage didn’t show Mr. Stanley returning to the club that night or leaving on foot, according to Mr. Saunders.

Phone records

The prosecutor also told the court that cell phone data records place the defendants in the area where Mr. Stanley’s body was found, and that the timeline matches the sequence of events following Club Crystal.

Phone records also showed that Mr. Cheltenham called the other two defendants after being separated, according to Mr. Saunders. When the body of Mr. Stanley was found on July 28, 2016, it was very decomposed and hardly identifiable, the court heard.

“It was clear that his arms were tied behind his back,” Mr. Saunders said.

Post-mortem results showed two large fractures in his jaw and a fractured rib, the prosecutor explained, adding that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the left jaw.

When all three defendants were interviewed, all accepted being at Club Crystal that night but their accounts of which car was driven by each of them, where each suspect went, and at what time, were conflicting, the court heard.

Mr. Cheltenham was represented by Reynela Rawlins and Mr. Farrell was represented by Stephen Daniels but said he wanted to change his attorney to Valerie Stephens-Gordon. Mr. Durant did not yet have a lawyer representing him.

The three are scheduled to return to court on April 8.