THE public should hear on Thursday which direction the Jolyan Silvera case will go after his bombshell plea on Monday to manslaughter in relation to the November 10, 2023 shooting death of his wife Melissa.

Silvera, a former People’s National Party Member of Parliament (MP), was to begin his trial for murder and using a firearm to commit a felony on Monday in the Gun Court Division of the Supreme Court in Kingston. However, when he was asked to indicate whether he was guilty or not guilty of murder, Silvera said not guilty, and in a shocking twist pleaded guilty to manslaughter instead. That caused the matter to be adjourned until Tuesday, leaving prosecutors to decide, overnight, whether they would accept the manslaughter guilty plea.

The media were blocked from the proceedings on Monday and Tuesday due to the case being an in-camera matter, which Gun Court sessions usually are.

When the matter was adjourned on Tuesday, a source claimed that the indictment was amended to reflect the charges of manslaughter and using a firearm to commit a felony.

The source said that Silvera was asked to enter new pleas and at that point the former MP accepted guilt on the charges in the amended indictment.

With that out of the way, Silvera is expected to return to court on Thursday when Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, who is the trial judge, should indicate officially what the next steps in the case will be.

Melissa Silvera, who was a land developer, died at home in Stony Hill, St Andrew. She was initially believed to have died in her sleep from natural causes. However, following the review of the autopsy results showing that bullet fragments were found inside her body, the case was upgraded to murder.

Her funeral was held two months after her death in January 2024 at St Andrew Parish Church in Half-Way-Tree, just under four weeks after investigators had upgraded her cause of death to murder.

At the funeral, Silvera wept openly, but on Tuesday, while being led out of court and being taken to a holding cell, he was spotted smiling.

Sources told the Jamaica Observer that a unique identifier for each licensed firearm in Jamaica, which is stored by the Firearm Licensing Authority, was what was used to prove conclusively that the bullet which killed Melissa came from the gun licensed to her husband. Sources added that initial ballistic tests had not shown that the gun had been fired.

Silvera is being represented by attorney Peter Champagnie, King’s Counsel.