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A senior police investigator has told the High Court that a murder accused broke down in tears while in custody and offered to lead officers to the victim’s body, as the trial continued on Wednesday.

Inspector Sandra Dottin was giving evidence as Roger Sealy’s murder trial continued before Justice Laurie-Anne Smith-Bovell in the No. 4 Supreme Court on Wednesday.   

Sealy, of Airy Cot, St Thomas, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Samara Bristol between November 16 and 21, 2021.  

Dottin of the Criminal Investigation Department said that she and other officers went to a house at Airy Cot, St Thomas, just after midnight on November 17, 2021, based on information received that Bristol could have been forcibly removed from the home. She found the house partially burnt and what appeared to be a blood trail leading to the roadway. Investigations led to Sealy, who was taken into custody.  

On November 20, when told of his rights to counsel, the accused stated: “I have Michael Lashley so I would give him a call.” He was allowed to contact the defence lawyer.  

Later, when he was asked to give a written statement of his whereabouts on November 16, Dottin said: “Sealy then sat in a chair, stared off as though in a trance and looked at me while nodding his head, mumbling under his breath.”

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He again called his attorney and eventually told the officers, “I need time to think,” and the interview was concluded and he was taken back to the holding cell.  

Reading from her official notebook, Dottin said that on November 21, when he was told about the investigation into Bristol’s disappearance and his right to counsel, “The accused Sealy held down his head, shook from side to side and started to cry.”  

“He said: ‘I will talk to them later. I will take you and show you where the body is’,” the officer read.  

Dottin told the court that Sealy then directed them to an area in Mangrove, St Thomas, through a gravel road.

“We stopped the vehicle as indicated by the accused Sealy and I noticed that we were in an open area which has some burnt debris…We all exited the police vehicle and Sealy directed us through a bushy area and we followed his instructions, and he then stopped and said ‘Look she dey’. I looked and saw what appeared to be the human remains of a female, which appeared to be sparsely dressed and swollen. I then cautioned the accused and he made no reply. We then left that area and walked back to the gravel area. I made a call to the District ‘D’ Police Station and the Forensic Scenes of Crime Unit to have this discovery processed.”

The investigator said that after other police personnel arrived, Sealy took them back through the path and pointed to the human remains and that this was captured by audio and video recordings.  

“I cautioned the accused and asked him if he had anything to say to which the accused said: ‘I so sorry’ crying while holding over,” Dottin said.  

In the electronically recorded interview on November 23, Sealy said that he had known the deceased “from the time she was born” and that while their relationship was “alright” when she was growing up, “since she became a young lady, it wasn’t the best”.  

Sealy told the police that he and Bristol’s mother, Samantha, had built the house at Airy Cot together, that he had lived there for about four or five years and that he was not aware that Samara was on the island, the inspector said.  

Dottin testified that when he was asked what had occurred that night, Sealy stated: “I went by the house. When I get by the front door, I push in the key, but the lock wouldn’t work. I tried the two back doors, the same thing, so I came back to the front. I tried again and it ain’t work, so I brek the glass closest to the lock and I push in my hand, unlock the door and went in. When I get in, she tell me: ‘You ain’t got no right in here and bound in the kitchen and snatch up a knife to juk me with. So I had to defend myself. That is when she got struck.”  

Dottin testified that as the interview continued, Sealy said that he used a piece of stick, that he struck Bristol “about three or four times”, “some on her hand and some on her head because she was trying to put up her hand” and that he threw the stick into a skip by the dump.  

Asked how Bristol got out of the house, Sealy said: “I panicked and pull she out and put she on the back of my truck.”

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC and State Counsel Paul Prescod are prosecuting the case, while attorney Sian Lange represents Sealy.  

A 12 member jury is hearing the evidence.

(JB)