KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) sergeant, Theophilus Tracy, has been charged with murder and illegal possession of firearm, following the discovery of a dead woman in his vehicle on February 26.

The charges were confirmed by his attorney-at-law, Peter Champagnie earlier today in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.

Tracey is to appear before the Gun Court on Thursday, May 19.

He was previously charged with failure to hand over his firearm to police officers during the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the dead woman in his car, in which he was offered a $300,000 bail. Tracey is to return to court on July 28 for mention of this charge.

Tracey’s bail conditions include the surrender of his travel documents, reporting to the nearest police station on Tuesdays and Thursdays between the hours of 6:00 am and 6:00 pm, he is to reside at the Clarendon address listed on file and a stop order was made.

In relation to his earlier charge of failure to hand over his firearm to police officers, Tracey was made the subject of an identification parade, however, Champagnie confirmed that even though arrangements were made to have Tracey participate in this parade on May 5, 6, 9 and 13, this was not done.

The St Andrew Central police had reported that about 4:20 am on Saturday, February 26, lawmen responded to an assignment of a motor vehicle collision, on arrival of the team, a grey Honda Fit motor car was seen with a woman’s body protruding from the front passenger seat. The body was reported to have multiple gunshot wounds.

Police said the deceased, who is still unidentified, appeared to be in her late-thirties, is about five feet long, and has a skin tone that shows evidence of bleaching.

It was clad in a black blouse, purple sweat pants, and one foot of black-and-red Nike sneakers.

Investigations that followed revealed that the motor car belonged to the JDF sergeant, who is also a licensed firearm holder. He was located and taken into custody.

– Candice Haughton