SLAUGHTER
Deportee accused of butchering sister during quarrel
A little boy looks as Michelle Roache's daughter, Victoria Roache (left) is being consoled on Tuesday by a member of the Healing Stream Spiritual Temple her mother operated out of her house. (Photo: Akera Davis)

CONTENT, St Ann — When Norman "Pedro" Campbell was deported from Canada more than a decade ago his sister Michelle "Ann-Marie" Roache took him in. When he ran afoul of the local law earlier this year, she posted bail on his behalf.

On Monday night, Campbell allegedly stabbed his sister to death, enraged by her threat to call the police after they quarrelled.

On Tuesday, a messy trail of blood splatters bathed sections of the four steps leading into Roache's house where she had been slaughtered. The modest three-bedroom structure doubles as the Healing Stream Spiritual Temple, a place of worship the 56-year-old — whom neighbours referred to as the "archbishop reverend" — operated out of her home.

Adjoined to the building are Campbell's quarters, painted in red, while Roache's section, which is painted in white, is on the main structure.

Residents of Content, St Ann discuss the tragic killing of Michelle Roache on Tuesday. (Photo: Akera Davis)

According to the police, sometime after 11:30 pm Monday, Roache was at home when she realised there was no electricity in her section of the house. She went outside and spoke to Campbell. It is alleged that during an altercation between them Roache was stabbed several times. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Campbell has been taken into custody.

The brutal slaying comes on the heels of Rushane Barnett's June 21 murder of his cousin Kimesha Wright and her four children in Cocoa Piece, Clarendon. Wright had taken in her cousin, at her mother's urging, after he moved from Trelawny to get a fresh start.

Barnett hacked the family to death, claiming that he was being "disrespected" by Wright. He pleaded guilty and is to be sentenced on October 20. That bloodbath left the entire country shocked.

A trail of blood leading to Roache's house in Content, St Ann, where she was killed Monday night.Photo: Akera Davis

On Tuesday, sensibilities were again offended when news broke of Roache's murder. Her youngest son, Emile "Trey" Roache, said his mother and uncle had never fought before.

"Them never have no feud before, so mi nuh understand this. Mi mother just say a simple thing to him about the light, unless she a go call the police. And from she say that him just attack her in the dark. Him deal with her wicked. When mi see my mother and how she look mi feel it. Mi nuh sleep last night. Whole night mi a wonder if it real," the 23-year-old told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

"Is like from them deport him it get to him head," said one neighbour who opted not to provide a name.

"Sometimes mi see him a thump down all the wall them and just a pace up and down... it is just a sad day. Mi nah lie, him shouldn't do a thing like that to him sister," added a man who gave his name as Fyah.

The adjoining buildings where the siblings lived; Roache's house is painted white while her brother's is red.Photo: Akera Davis

Now Roache's family has been left to pick up the pieces.

"My mother is my heart; a she protect mi. If she say to mi, 'Trey, don't go road today because things a go happen to you', mi just listen and stay home because a same way it go. Over the years a she guide mi," said Emile.

Sharing that his father died months before he was born, Emile said a "Right now, mi nuh know how mi a go manage."

A little boy looks as Michelle Roache's daughter, Victoria Roache (left) is being consoled on Tuesday by a member of the Healing Stream Spiritual Temple her mother operated out of her house. (Photo: Akera Davis)
BY AKERA DAVIS Observer writer

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