David Smith, the man who has accepted responsibility for the shooting deaths of politician Phillip Paulwell’s 10-month-old daughter, Sarayah, and her mother, Toshyna Patterson, is to be sentenced on July 24.
The date was set today in the Home Circuit Court when the matter came up for a plea and case management hearing.
Smith, who is charged with two counts each of capital murder, conspiracy to murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy to kidnap, pleaded guilty on June 10.
He is charged alongside the alleged mastermind, Leoda Bradshaw, a former United States Navy petty officer who was reportedly involved in a relationship with Phillip Paulwell at the time of the killings and is also the mother of one of his children.
Bradshaw faces two counts each of capital murder, conspiracy to murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy to kidnap.
She is jointly charged with Roland Balfour and Bjorn Black in connection with the deaths.
Balfour, Bradshaw’s cousin, is charged with two counts each of accessory before the fact to murder and kidnapping, while Black faces two counts each of murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to murder, and conspiracy to kidnap, as well as firearms-related offences.
Prosecutors allege that Sarayah and her 27-year-old mother were abducted from their St Andrew home on September 9, 2023.
Investigators say they were taken to east Kingston, where they were later shot and their bodies burned.
Two other men implicated in the case, Richard Brown and Roshane Miller, have already pleaded guilty to related offences and have been sentenced.
The remaining accused, all of whom are in custody, are scheduled to return to court on September 17 for a trial-readiness hearing ahead of their trial, which is set to begin on September 28.
– Tanesha Mundle
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