(Jamaica Observer) Within an hour of being arrested and charged for possession of an offensive weapon on August 29, Romario Brown was bailed by fashion designer Dexter Pottinger — the man he is now accused of killing.
Brown’s arrest on August 29 came almost a month after he was granted bail for a murder he is accused of committing in 2016.
Three days later, he was arrested in connection with Pottinger’s death and subsequently charged with murder.
A police source on Thursday confirmed that Brown, a tattoo and make-up artist of Rocky Valley, Stony Hill in St Andrew, was walking along Hermitage Road at approximately 10:45 pm on August 29 when he was stopped and searched. The source, who spoke to the Jamaica Observer on condition of anonymity, said an offensive weapon was taken from his backpack. He was subsequently arrested and charged.
According to the source, Brown was granted station bail in the sum of $10,000. At approximately 11:40 pm, Brown was bailed by Pottinger, the police said.
He was slated to appear in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on September 19 for that offence.
On July 31, Brown was granted bail in the Home Circuit Court on a charge of murder, after he was arrested following the death of Alexia Bepatt on April 8, 2016, another police source told the Observer. He was scheduled to reappear in court on October 4 in relation to that murder.
Brown was also accused of stealing a laptop belonging to the dead woman’s boyfriend and was charged with larceny from the dwelling.
It is alleged that Brown went to visit the woman and both were engaged in adult activities when an argument developed.
It is further alleged that during the argument, Brown kicked the woman off the bed and squeezed her throat.
Bepatt was later found partially naked, lying unconscious at her home in Mona, St Andrew. She was rushed to the University Hospital of the West Indies where she was pronounced dead.
Last week Thursday, Pottinger’s decomposing body was found at his home at Yarico Place, Kingston 20 about 5:20 pm. His missing 2017 Honda CR-V motor vehicle was found in Stony Hill later that evening, the police reported.
Brown was taken into police custody last week Friday and was subsequently charged.
On Wednesday when the Observer tried to confirm that Brown was the same person who had been charged with Bepatt’s murder last year, members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force admitted that they were not aware that he was out on bail for that murder when he was granted bail for possession of an offensive weapon.
But yesterday, attorneys Michelle Thomas and Christopher Townsend told the Observer that it was not impossible for a person who commits an offence while on bond to be offered bail. Townsend, while noting that it can be difficult to obtain bail, said the decision is based on the judge’s discretion.
