Odwin murder trial: Accused told police deceased ‘came outside naked’ before fatal encounter  

A police sergeant told the No. 4 Supreme Court that a woman accused of murder said during her interview that the deceased, Ronald Skeete, had come outside his house naked and sexually “interfered” with her.  

 

Romancia Odwin, 26, of Whopping, Orange Hill, St James, has denied murdering 56-year-old Ronald Smokey Skeete and unlawfully wounding Zonelle Sobers with intent to maim, disfigure or disable her, or to cause her other serious bodily harm, and to the lesser charge of unlawfully and maliciously wounding her, all between July 18 and 19, 2020.  

 

Sergeant Kason Bartlett took the stand on Thursday. He said that during her electronic interview at District ‘E’ Police Station, Odwin stated that she had been leaving home and when she passed, Skeete came outside naked and interfered with her sexually by touching her legs and private parts.  

 

He said that in the interview, Odwin said: “I was passing by his vehicle and he rushed through the side door and approached me with a knife. He said ‘I aint playing no more games. I ain’t no little boy. I am a man and I want this ***’. So I laugh and I say, ‘Ronald, you can’t be serious’. And he said, ‘yes, I serious and come and go inside’ and poked me with the knife. So when I got inside, he shut the door and had the knife in my back and it was dark and I heard where the door clicked in as he locked the door, he told me to go straight and make a left turn.”  

 

He said that Odwin stated that Skeete told her to take her clothes off in the bedroom and rushed at her when she refused and she kneed him in his belly and grabbed his hand.  

 

Reading from his notes, the officer recalled Odwin’s account of the events: “[Skeete] land on the bed. The knife landed beside my foot. I took it up and ran to where I came through, but the door wouldn’t budge. As soon as I did that, I felt his hands on my back trying to pull me from the door. He was grabbing for my hands to see which hand I had the knife in.” 

 

“So when I turned around, that’s when I stabbed and he wouldn’t go down, so I stabbed again, I ran to the window and he followed me and that is when the dresser door came down.”

 

“I went looking for an exit and he had me in the corner still fighting. That’s when I hit the back of my head and he pushed me into the wall and he was hollering for help. He said, ‘Nat, she got me’. So when he said ‘Nat she got me’ is when I stabbed him again and he slid down on the ground up in the corner and I ran back to the same door.”  

 

Odwin said that Skeete had tried to hit her with the dresser door and she had stabbed at him again before they began to scuffle, “when she came through” either the “window or door”.  

 

He continued reading: “I couldn’t see, but she ended up coming in the bedroom. She came in and asked what happening? What going on here? All this time me and the guy was still scuffling to get the knife.” 

 

“When she came in, she ran at me and jumped on my left side. So he was pushing me. It was two against one. So when I get loose of my hand, that is when I stabbed her. He pushed me and all three of us fell. Both of them got up…I took my time and got up because the ground was wet and when I got outside, I saw him by the door we came through and he turned around and tried to cuff at me.”,

 

“When he cuffed at me is when I retaliated and I stabbed him multiple times and that is when he went through the door. I went back in the bedroom. I waited a while and then I left. When I get home, I saw my father and friends dealing with her wounds. I ran upstairs and took off my clothes and bathe. After I finish get my bath, I threw the knife over in my neighbour’s garden.” 

 

Sergeant Bartlett said that the accused stated that Skeete “did the same thing the night before but he didn’t have a knife”.

 

“He just came outside naked like always waiting for me to pass and pull at me touching me sexually. He held me by my wrist pull at me touching me sexually. He held me by my wrist pulling me towards his stair. I told him ‘let me go or I am going to scream’. When he let me go I chucked him and went back home.”  

 

Sergeant Bartlett testified that when questioned, she denied being involved intimately with the deceased, telling police that she knew him as a neighbourhood friend and also denied communicating with anyone after the incident via cell phone.  

 

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC and State Counsel Paul Prescod are prosecuting the case, while Sade Harris represents Odwin.  

 

Justice Laurie-Anne Smith-Bovell presides.