Rushane Barnett, the man who on Thursday pleaded guilty to the murder of five members of his family in Clarendon in June after threatening to “kill some people tonight”, delivered “48 incised wounds” to his cousin Kimesha Wright alone before going on to butcher her four children, who had rushed to her defence, in a grisly attack that shocked the country.

According to details contained in a post-mortem report read before Supreme Court Judge Justice Leighton Pusey, the 31-year-old mother died from haemorrhage, shock and multiple sharp force injuries from the wounds which were distributed between her neck, chest, abdomen and limbs.

Her 23-month-old child Kishawn Henry was dealt 11 “incised wounds inclusive of an incised wound to the neck which has been described as a cut-throat injury”, the post-mortem report said.

Wright’s 15-year-old daughter Kimanda Smith, on whom Barnett inflicted nine incised wounds and four stab wounds, died from haemorrhage, shock and multiple stab wounds, the report said.

Eleven-year-old Shara-Lee Smith died from haemorrhage, shock and incised wounds to the neck described as a “cut-throat injury” after being given 22 “incised wounds”.

Five-year-old Rafaella Smith also died from haemorrhage, shock and incised wounds to the neck also described as a “cut-throat injury” after receiving five incised wounds and a gaping wound to the upper anterior neck.

On Thursday, a senior prosecutor read into the records of the court details shared by Barnett in a caution statement to the police as to what transpired in the house at Cocoa Piece, Chapelton district, in Clarendon in the dead of night on June 20 this year.

According to Barnett, his cousin had “disrespected” him in the days before the murders. He claimed that this was after two customers had come to the premises and ordered items and he served them. He alleged that his cousin, who was present, “grabbed the money he collected from the men and told him not to serve any of her customers”. He said she did this in front of the customers and he felt disrespected. In addition, he said she flashed some water in his face. According to Barnett, following that incident her attitude towards him changed and the children also started distancing themselves from him.

Barnett said that on the night of the murders, approximately midnight to 1:00 am, Wright had told him to lock up the house and he told her that he heard a vehicle outside. He claimed she looked but saw nothing. According to Barnett, he looked at her and she looked at him as if she saw that he was “preeing” her.

He claimed that she then “made after something on the dresser”. According to him, while he did not see what that “something” was, he “preed in the heavens that it was a knife or scissors”.

Barnett, who said he had his knife on him, told the police that he “stabbed her up” and she “dropped the children”. He said two of the children rushed to the dresser and took up two things in their hands and started throwing the items at him. He claimed he grabbed at them and started stabbing them as well. He further claimed that the “big child” drew a pair of scissors and he rushed into her room when he realised this. He said she fell, and he started stabbing her. According to Barnett, when “everybody was dead”, he ran off and threw the shorts he was wearing and the knife to the side of the house where an ackee tree is located.

On Thursday, prosecutors told the court that a witness who was in the company of Barnett hours before the murders testified that the knife used in the slayings belonged to the accused man. That witness, the court was told, went on to identify the discarded knife and soiled shorts found near the site as belonging to Barnett. That witness also told the police that in the hours before the murders he was in the company of Barnett, who had the same knife and who also uttered the words “mi go warn mi brother outta Chapelton seh mi a go kill some people tonight, so him mus look outta him eye”.

In the meantime, the question of whether the death penalty sought by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Barnett is still on the table in light of his guilty plea was left looming on Thursday. The issue was brought to the fore when a senior prosecutor urged the judge to allow members of Wright’s family, who have said they wish to give victim impact statements to the court to do so orally. According to the prosecutor, this would be only fair, given that the witnesses to be called by the defence would be speaking from the witness stand.

“Because of the nature of this matter, Milord, which proceeded as a case in which the Crown was seeking the death penalty, now that he has pleaded guilty,” the prosecutor began, only to have the judge question his reference to that intent in the “past tense”.

“Well, Milord, I am assuming that because he has pleaded guilty an automatic discount is that the death penalty is taken off the table,” the prosecutor replied, to which Justice Pusey retorted, “That’s what you think.”

A sentencing hearing is to be held for Barnett on Thursday, September 22 at which the defence and prosecution are expected to make submissions as to the sentence to be applied.

The bodies of Wright and her children were discovered inside their house with chop wounds and their throats slashed on the morning of Tuesday, June 21 by another relative. Barnett reportedly fled the area to Wilson Run in Trelawny, where he was apprehended. He was charged three days later based on a caution statement he gave to the police.