Suspect B.L.N. leaving the Courthouse after a pro-forma hearing in his case.
PHILIPSBURG--The trial of B.L.N. (52), who is suspected of brutally murdering Methodist Agogic Center (MAC) educator Rhonda Thomas, will be taking place on November 10, it was stated during a pro-forma hearing in the Court of First Instance on Wednesday.
N., who was born in St. Kitts, was arrested at his home in Middle Region on February 17. He allegedly is responsible for killing Thomas, who was found dead in her home on White Sands Road in Beacon Hill on February 15.
Police searched N.’s home after his arrest, and detectives confiscated several undisclosed items. N. was later taken to the Philipsburg police station, where he was incarcerated pending further investigation. He is currently being held in pretrial detention in the Pointe Blanche prison.
Police and ambulance workers found Thomas’ lifeless body on the floor of her home in Beacon Hill. She was stabbed multiple times, such as in her upper body and in her neck.
Traces of blood were found at various locations in the apartment, such as on the bedroom’s doorknob, it was stated during a previous preliminary hearing in June.
The defendant denies the allegations, saying he did not know why this crime was being pinned on him.
The prosecutor informed that the investigations into this case are finalised, and that information obtained from the suspect’s telephone records and DNA information from Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), as well as a report from the last police interview of N. will be added to the case file.
As was stated previously, attorney-at-law Marlon Hart will be filing a claim for damages in these criminal proceedings to the maximum amount of NAf. 50,000, on behalf of the victim’s relatives.
N. is no stranger to the judicial system. In October 2020, the Court of First Instance sentenced him to 15 months imprisonment, 12 of which were suspended, on three years’ probation, for his involvement in smuggling four undocumented persons into St. Maarten on November 13, 2018.
