THE preliminary hearing for the Kingston man implicated in the July 2013 stabbing death of Father Charles Brown has been rescheduled to May 19 in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court.

The matter was scheduled to start last Wednesday, but failed to get underway because full disclosure was not made to defence attorneys. Bail for the accused, Rohan Deacon of Seaview Gardens in Kingston 11, was extended.

It is alleged that on July 25, 2013, about 8:00 pm, a white Suzuki motor car owned by Archbishop of Kingston Charles Dufour and driven by Father Brown was found abandoned in bushes adjacent to Tom Gringley Drive, Plantation Heights in St Andrew.

On July 29, about 2:00 pm, the decomposing body of Father Brown was found with multiple stab wounds to the upper body, head and left hand.

It is further alleged that body parts and a knife blade that was found at the crime scene were taken to the forensic laboratory for testing, and that a DNA test found that blood on the underwear of the accused matched that of the deceased man.

Following the discovery of the body, the prosecutor alleged that the police made several calls for Deacon to surrender, but that he went into hiding and was found living in a one-room shack in Clarendon on February 19 of this year.

The police alleged that Deacon, when apprehended, gave the police a false name but later gave them his correct name and a statement outlining the reason for killing the priest.

However, his lawyers, Oliver Smith and Shauna-Gay Mitchell, have maintained that what he had given to the police was not a confession.

— Tanesha Mundle