Layne admits to strangling two women

A St Michael man confessed to police that he strangled two women on separate occasions following sexual encounters.

Demetrico Ricardo Layne, of Graham’s Alley, Nelson Street, St Michael, has admitted to non-capital murder in the deaths of Olivia Cecelia Carter on July 27, 2020, and Odith Nicole Henriques on August 2, 2021.

The prosecutor, Principal State Counsel Rudolph Burnett, told the No. 4 Supreme Court before Justice Laurie-Anne Smith-Bovell that Carter, 30, became a cocaine addict in 2019 and lived in an abandoned house at Millyard Road, Brittons Hill.

On July 27, 2020, a man was passing through the compound of the old Lauriston building in Collymore Rock, and saw Carter’s lifeless body and contacted the police. Her body bore several injuries and abrasions, including to the knees, jaw, back and hip, as well as ligature marks to the neck and a wound to the back of the head. Her death was attributed to severe head trauma.  

Investigators’ inquiries eventually led them to Layne, who was then employed as a security guard at a nearby school.

In his statement to police, Layne said he met Carter one night when she asked for something to eat and he shared his food with her. She returned another night, but he had no food and gave her money. She offered to perform a sexual act, which he accepted, taking her into the school.

Layne’s statement continued: “I remember her biting me and I end up striking her and grabbing her the same time. At the time, my hand was around her neck and I was asking her what was the reason for that? After she had died, I just ask myself: ‘What did I just do?’” 

He said he washed her body in the showers before carrying her across the street.

“I lay her down to the side of the road. After that I just stood above her. I was crying and I told her I was sorry. After that I went back to the school and sat in the guard hut till after 6 o’clock when she was found. After that I left and went to my next job.”

The court heard that a year later, on August 2, 2021, a resident walking along Graham’s Alley smelled a foul odour and discovered the naked body of Henriques, a 44-year-old Jamaican national, in the yard of an unoccupied house. Police were summoned, and a post-mortem ruled the cause of death was asphyxia.

Henriques was a prostitute who met Layne at a shop on Nelson Street, the court heard. They arranged to meet at his home for sex. After the encounter, he left to get a drink for her, but when he returned she was gone. He later told police some toiletries and money were missing from his wallet.

Prosecutor Burnett said: “The deceased returned to the now convicted man’s residence on July 31, after being told that he was accusing her of stealing his money. On this visit, they had sex and the deceased called for payment. The now-convicted man told the deceased she had stolen his money the first time so he did not think it was right to pay her. As a result, the deceased became angry and, according to him, armed herself with a knife and stabbed him on his left wrist. The now-convicted man took a hammer from off a barrel in his apartment and struck the deceased in her head. The deceased fell on the bed and the now-convicted man choked her until there were no signs of life.”

In his written statement to police, Layne said he panicked afterwards, saying: “I told her that I was sorry,” before dozing off. He later moved the body to the yard of a nearby abandoned house.

Layne, represented by attorney Leslie Cargil-Straker, will return to court on June 20 for sentencing submissions.

(JB)