Guilty of murder

It took a 12-member jury just over an hour of deliberations to find Rommel Akeem Cummins guilty of murder.

It was around 4:45 p.m. on Thursday evening that the jury delivered its decision.

Cummins had pleaded not guilty to murdering Dave Archer on June 10, 2019. Archer, a former security guard on the MV DreamChaser was fatally shot while onboard the party vessel.

After the verdict was delivered in the No. 3 Supreme Court, Justice Carlisle Greaves set March 2, 2023, as the date for sentencing.

A pre-sentencing report was also ordered.

Senior State Counsel Neville Watson appeared on behalf of the State while Angela Mitchell-Gittens represented Cummins.

During the trial it was revealed that Cummins gave police an alibi for the night Archer was gunned down, claiming he had gone home and slept.

However, the lead investigator in the matter, Sergeant Michael Ifill, told the court that during police investigations “informants” told them Cummins had been present on the boat when the shooting occurred.

Sergeant Ifill said in a second statement which Cummins gave to him on June 13, 2019, he confessed to being the person who shot Archer.

But in his unsworn statement from the dock, Cummins said he only confessed to the murder after he was beaten and tortured by police. He said he admitted to killing Archer to prevent any further beatings.

Cummins also claimed that he was told by police what to say in the statement beforehand. (RB)