Guilty: Jury convicts St. Mary man of killing US missionaries

 

After deliberating for 144 minutes, a panel of seven jurors returned a verdict of guilty in the murder trial of St. Mary labourer Andre Thomas.

 

The foreman delivered a unanimous guilty verdict on two counts of murder in the Home Circuit Court on Thursday afternoon.

 

Thomas has been convicted of killing two American missionaries in 2016.

 

The bodies of Harold Nichols and Randy Hentzel were found in Wentworth district, St. Mary, on April 30 and May 1, 2016.

 

Thomas is to be sentenced on October 13.

 

A social enquiry report has been ordered.

 

The jury listened to more than 20 witnesses for nearly four weeks. 

 

"We are pleased in that there is now some closure. We believe the verdict is an accurate one based on what we know and don't know.... But yeah, we are pleased that this thing's coming to a close after seven years," John Heater, Director of Teams for Medical Missions, told Radio Jamaica News after the verdict. 

 

During the trial, the court was told that Mr. Nichols arrived in Jamaica in October 2002 as part of Christian Service International missionaries before moving to Teams for Medical Missions in 2004.