ROY Nesbeth, the 85-year-old farmer who in 2023 killed his 73-year-old wife and the couple’s 80-year-old boss in a fit of jealous rage, said in a confession that he had attempted to kill himself thrice after guilt overwhelmed him, but was stopped by a “voice” from God, which told him to go to a pastor and turn himself in.

Nesbeth, who was on Tuesday, December 30 found guilty by a jury of seven for the murders of Tera Anderson-Nesbeth, his wife of 10 years; and retired nurse Patsy Allen, in a caution statement blamed Allen, his dead employer, for the feud which cost her and his wife their lives.

The couple, who had been in a relationship for 30 years prior to their marriage, both worked for Allen.

According to Nesbeth, on the day of the incidents (August 12, 2023), he had an argument with his wife at their home in Grange District, Hanover, because she had stopped washing his clothes and was hiding £30 (approx J$6,400) from him. He said she declared that she was done with him which “greatly upset” him. He further outlined that while she was bending down to sort laundry to wash, he took up a stick, “a digger” that he normally uses on his farm, and hit his wife three times in her head and shoulder.

According to the farmer, he then went to Allen’s house in Kendel District in the same parish, where he accused her of ruining his marriage, and accused a younger relative of hers of wanting to steal his wife. Nesbeth said he boxed (slapped) Allen, then took up a screwdriver and “jammed her with it in her shoulder” and left.

“I’m telling you the truth, I didn’t know that when I boxed and jammed Miss Patsy with the screwdriver she would die. I’m not lying, I caused their deaths, I killed them. I am confessing as God knows that I killed them,“ Nesbeth said in court documents, transcribed from patois for this publication.

During a question and answer session with cops, when asked, “why did you kill your wife”, Nesbeth said, “it’s the lie she told me, and I am 85 years old, and I have nobody to take care of me… and she started a relationship with a 50-year-old man… after I took her up with four children”.

Asked how he killed his wife he said, “mi lick her with a digging bill”.

Asked why he killed Allen, he said, “because she’s bad, she’s a wicked woman, she is the one who mash up my married life”.

Following the interview, when informed that he was under arrest for reasonable suspicion of two counts of murder and cautioned, Nesbeth said, “I don’t know what drive me to do this, is Patsy cause all a this”.

Some days later, Nesbeth, referring to his wife, told a cop, “officer, I hit her but I didn’t hit her for her to die, but because she got no help, she bled out. I don’t know how this happened, we’ve been together for 40 years and we don’t quarrel”.

A weeping Nesbeth reportedly further said, “I can’t believe I killed Patsy and my wife. I prayed to God and asked Him to forgive me… Three times I put the rope around my neck to kill myself because I wanted to go lie down beside my wife, and God talk to me and said don’t kill yourself, because I already confessed to Him, and I should go turn myself in, so I did it.“

When charged and cautioned for his wife’s death, he cried openly but said nothing. When charged for Allen’s death, he said, “a she cause it to happen, a her fault all a this happen, a spite she a spite me…”

A post-mortem examination of Anderson-Nesbeth’s body revealed blunt impact trauma involving the face/head. The fatal blow to the back of the head caused injury to the brain, while the trauma to the face was believed to be secondary to the fall which caused the injury to the back of her head.

A post-mortem examination conducted on Allen said death was attributed to “haemorrhagic shock consequent upon sharp force injuries to the chest…” It said she also had what appeared to be a defensive injury on her left hand.

Nesbeth was tried before Justice Courtney Daye in the Hanover Circuit court over 14 days between December 3 to 30. The matter was investigated by Detective Constable Ellsworth Robinson of the Green Island Police Station with assistance from Detective Sergeant Melda Crooks Jones and Detective Corporal Davion Frame of the Lucea CIB. It was prosecuted by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Malike Kellier and Crown Counsel Loyata Richards.

He is to be sentenced at a later date.