PHILIPSBURG, St Maarten — The Jamaican accused of stabbing a South Carolina couple to death in their Caribbean vacation home is now before the St Maarten court.

He has been identified as a security guard, Meyshane Johnson.

A judge in St Maarten Wednesday ordered that the Jamaican be detained as a suspect in the gruesome killing.

Johnson was making his first court appearance since his arrest, his white T-shirt pulled over his head as he was led into the courthouse.

The proceedings were closed to the press and public but Solicitor General Taco Stein said later that the magistrate had ruled there was enough evidence to detain Johnson as a suspect in the killing of Michael and Thelma King of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

Prosecutors must return to court in eight days from Wednesday if they want to continue holding Johnson. His lawyer says he denies killing the Kings.