Trio re-committed to stand trial over septic tank murder

Three men were yesterday committed once more to stand trial in the High Court for killing a Campbellville woman and then dumping her body in a septic tank.

Ralph Tyndall, 27, of 31 ‘C’ Field Sophia, Anthony DePaul Hope, 26, of 55 William Street Campbellville, and Kevin O’Neil, 27, of Seaforth Street Campbellville, were committed to face a jury trial in the High Court by Magistrate Judy Latchman at the end of the Preliminary Inquiry into the charge at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts yesterday.

The trio is accused of murdering Colleen Forrester on December 27, 2007, at William Street, Campbellville. Hope, who is Forrester’s nephew, had resided at the address where her lifeless body was found.

Forrester’s body was discovered after police conducted a search on the Campbellville property,

Colleen Forrester
Colleen Forrester
Anthony De Paul Hope
Anthony De Paul Hope

where she was a caretaker, following a report by relatives that she was missing. Her body was eventually found in the septic tank.

Magistrate Latchman yesterday said she found that a sufficient case had been made out against the three men for a trial.  Tyndall also known as ‘Nick’, bent his head in sorrow when he heard the decision and opted to stay silent in answer to the murder charge as well as the offer to call a witness or witnesses. Hope, also known as ‘Papa,’ started tapping his foot on the ground of the prisoner’s dock and also maintained his silence to both the charge and calling witnesses, while O’Neil, who appeared frustrated, said, “I am innocent” and added that he had nothing else to say.

Ralph Tyndall
Ralph Tyndall
Kevin O’Neil
Kevin O’Neil

Justice Diane Insanally had quashed a previous order to commit the trio to a High Court trial in October last, after she accepted submissions made by the defence in support of a preliminary objection, that the unsworn statement of a child was the only evidence on which the order was based.

Insanally had said that she was satisfied that the case had not been properly taken to the High Court and ordered it back to the Magistrates’ Court, for a new Preliminary Inquiry, to be completed in four months.