Second murder conviction

His first guilty verdict was in May last year, in Supreme Court No 4, when he was convicted of murdering Kerwin Howell, 26, of Gall Hill, St John.

Yesterday, the young man known as “Sheriff” was found guilty of murdering Roger “Bubbla” Moore, 32, formerly of Bath Land, St John.

Both murders took place six months apart in 2020 – Howell on February 16, and Moore on August 18.

Hayde, of Colleton Land, St John, was back in the No. 3 Supreme Court, where he had been on trial for murdering Moore.

The 12-member jury took about two hours to come to its unanimous guilty verdict.

The matter was prosecuted by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney and Senior State Counsel Anastacia McMeo-Boyce.

Attorney Safiya Moore, who represented the convicted killer in association with attorney Michael Rivera, asked for an addendum to the pre-sentencing report, which had been prepared for Supreme Court No 4.

Justice Carlisle Greaves ordered the addendum, as well as the time Hayde had spent on remand.

He will sentence Hayde on February 27, and Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell, who presided in No. 4 Supreme Court, will sentence the murderer next Friday, February 13. Hayde remains on remand. Meanwhile, his co-accused Dontai Deron Harding, of Sargeant Street, St John, who also faced the indictment of murdering Moore, was freed after a successful no-case submission by his attorney Angella Mitchell-Gittens, SC. The jury in the No. 3 Supreme Court had heard from a shopkeeper who said she noticed when a white car drove past her shop. She did not spare it a second glance, the owner recalled. However, moments later, the vehicle stopped in front her establishment, two men jumped out and she then heard the sound of metal hitting something.

“Then I hear like an explosion. After I heard explosion, I realised they were shots,” she said, adding two men walked past her holding guns.

“I kept hearing ‘pax, pax, pax’. I was so afraid. I have never seen something like that happened in front of me. I was traumatised.”

The shopkeeper testified when the shooting stopped, she peeped out to look for the licence plate number of the vehicle. She then shouted for someone to call the police.

“‘Bubbla’ was on the ground and there was blood on him and I hear Martin say ‘He dead’ and people start coming round. I closed the back door and tell everybody to stay back.”

However, Hayde claimed he was at a friend’s house in St Philip and saw, on social media, that someone had been shot in St John. (HLE)