MANCHESTER, Jamaica — The first court appearance of a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier charged with the murder of his girlfriend in Manchester last weekend has been delayed to Friday.

Twenty-seven-year-old Damanice Tyrone Williamson had been originally scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday. However, his lawyer Norman Godfrey informed the media of the delay when reporters turned up at the Manchester Parish Court in anticipation of the case being called up.

Williamson was charged with the murder of 29-year-old Tanzanya Dunkley, in Three Chains in the parish, after he confessed to killing her during a dispute.

Over the weekend a police source said Williamson, in confessing to the killing, claimed that a voice told him to carry out the gruesome act.

“They had an argument and the woman decided that she was going to leave [the relationship], and he grabbed her phone. She held on to him. He is saying that a voice told him to kill her. He took the knife and cut her throat,” a police source told Observer Online on Saturday.

The incident reignited widespread debate about domestic violence. Since the murder, too, a video showing a man — believed to be the suspect — armed with what appears to be a knife asking police personnel to “shoot him and kill him” has gone viral on social media. The video was reportedly captured at Mandeville Police Station after Dunkley’s murder.

Police said the suspect told Dunkley’s 12-year-old daughter that he wanted to speak to her mother and instructed the child to go to an upper floor of the house in Three Chains moments before the murder.

Police said Williamson then slashed Dunkley’s throat before leaving the premises.

On Friday, neighbours told Observer Online that about 3:00 pm they heard screams coming from the house and shortly after saw a man, covered in what appeared to be blood, running from the premises.

READ: A ‘voice’ told soldier to kill girlfriend

— Kasey Williams

(Video: Kasey Williams)