WESTERN BUREAU – The Western Regional Gun Court will decide tomorrow what impact the death of the complainant will have on the case against Falmouth resident Travis Nasworthy.

The 23 year-old man is to return to court to answer charges of illegal possession of firearm and assault at common law. But the complainant in the case, Frank “Flash” Fletcher, was brutally murdered at his home last Thursday night.

Fletcher has been described as a man who was trying to broker peace between warring gangs inside the Race Course area of Falmouth.

He was killed by a group of about eight men while at his home in Race Course, with his four year-old son, Everton, and a friend. The men allegedly entered the premises sometime after 8:30 pm, after dislodging the zinc fence with their feet.

Clive Moses, a former cop who is also known as “Feather-mop”, said he was with Fletcher at the time of the incident.

“When me hear them beating down the fence me bawl out say, ‘Flash, run!’ But he efused to leave the youth. Him die as a hero,” Moses told the Observer.

One of the gunmen, Moses added, was armed with a shotgun, while another had a handgun which he pointed in his direction. He ran, he said, tearing down a portion of the zinc fence as he escaped.

Fletcher’s body was later found slumped over his young, unharmed child in his bed. A machete was clutched in his hand.

A resident corroborated aspects of Moses’ story. She said she was standing at her gate in the area at about 8:30 pm when she saw a group of about eight masked men approaching; they were dressed in dark clothes. The men, she said, appeared to be armed and she retreated indoors. Later, she said, she heard several shots.

The case against Nasworthy, which has been before the courts for about two weeks, was delayed again last week as he was still without a lawyer. The 23 year-old, who is often at Cornwall Street and Wellington Street in Falmouth, was held during a police operation along Cornwall Street. A couple days later, he was charged and he has been appearing before the Western Regional Gun Court in Montego Bay since then.

The allegations against him are that at about 8:00 am on June 1, he and four other men, all armed with guns, accosted 46 year-old Fletcher in Falmouth Gardens. Fletcher ran and hid and the men left the scene after they were unable to find him. The matter was later reported to the cops and Nasworthy was held.

Fletcher is the third person shot and killed in the area since last year’s beginning of what residents have described as a gang feud. Last October, two people were killed and another injured in an incident involving teens who are seen as gang members from the Race Course area.

North Trelawny Member of Parliament Dr Patrick Harris has condemned Fletcher’s murder and pleaded with community members not to take revenge.

“This is an unfortunate incident that highlights the fact that there are guns in the community. We must now move together to stem the senseless killings. I plead to the community not to carry out any reprisal killings,” the MP said.