Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Paula Llewellyn, has announced that her office has served a death penalty notice on David Smith, the alleged triggerman who has been implicated in the murder-for-hire plot that claimed the lives of 10-month-old Sarayah Paulwell and her mother, 27-year-old Toshyna Patterson.
Sarayah was the daughter of Member of Parliament (MP) for East Kingston and Port Royal, Phillip Paulwell.
The notice was served on Smith when he and his four co-accused appeared in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on Wednesday.
His co-accused are Leoda Bradshaw, a US Navy petty officer who described herself as Paulwell’s wife, and with whom she shares a daughter; Bradshaw’s cousin, Roland Balfour; and Bjorn Black. They are all charged with various offences relative to the overall crime, including murder and kidnapping.
Bradshaw, however, is the only accused facing two counts of capital murder in the matter.
In a shocking development in court, the prosecution revealed that while at the crime scene, Smith used his cell phone to send a picture of the deceased mother and child to Bradshaw at her request.
It is also alleged that Black provided an illegal firearm to Smith, which the latter then used to kill the mother and child.
Smith was apprehended last month, while Black was arrested in December of last year on firearm-related offences. That illegal firearm which was taken from Black when he was arrested by the police, is the weapon that was used to kill little Sarayah and her mother.
This was confirmed by ballistics testing, according to Llewellyn in her address to the court on Wednesday.
During court proceedings as well, Supreme Court Judge, Justice Vinette Graham-Allen, ordered that the Legal Aid Council consider assigning two senior attorneys to represent Smith and Black, who were both unrepresented in court.
The judge said the attorneys to be assigned must have legal experience in excess of six years, due to the technical nature of the case.
All four accused persons were remanded in custody until June 13, 2024.
Toshyna Patterson and her child, Sarayah Paulwell.
Two other men confessed to their roles in the murder-for-hire plot, and were sentenced in November of last year.
One of the men, Richard Brown, was sentenced to 30 years behind bars on each of two counts of murder. The sentences are to run concurrently, and he must serve 20 years before being eligible for parole consideration.
The other convict, Roshane Miller, received a sentence of seven years and 10 months in prison for two counts of accessory before the fact to murder, among other offences.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the prosecution outlined fresh details in the case.
Little Sarayah and her mother were kidnapped from their Gilmour Drive, St Andrew home by individuals on September 9 last year, then taken to Stony Hill , also in St Andrew, before being driven to East Kingston, where they were shot and killed and their bodies burnt.
Bradshaw is the alleged mastermind behind the murder-for-hire plot. The murder contract was reportedly for $500,000, and Bradshaw allegedly made a down payment of $100,000.
Her cousin, Balfour, a 30-year-old assistant graphic designer of a Kingston address, has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to murder, two counts of conspiracy to kidnapping, and misprison of felon.
According to the prosecution, Balfour was the accused who allegedly scouted Miller, Brown, Black and Smith to execute Bradshaw’s nefarious plan.
It is further alleged that Black provided the firearm that was used in the grisly killing, and he accompanied the other men to the crime scene.
Brown was the reported driver who transported little Sarayah and Patterson to the area in East Kingston where they were murdered.
Following their shooting and the sending of the photograph of their bodies to Bradshaw’s cell phone by Smith, the bodies were burnt.
On December 20, 2023, Black was charged by the police with offences under the new Firearms Act, days after his arrest. Those charges are possession of a prohibited weapon, unauthorised possession of ammunition, and dealing in a prohibited weapon.
That case is progressing in the Gun Court Division of the Home Circuit Court.
Black was subsequently charged with eight criminal offences relative to the double murder on January 12, 2024.
He is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of conspiracy to murder, and two counts of conspiracy to kidnap.
