Former Individuals’s Nationwide Get together (PNP) Member of Parliament Jolyan Silvera will stay in custody after the Court docket of Attraction upheld an earlier resolution to disclaim him bail in reference to the homicide of his spouse, Mellissa Silvera.
The 52-year-old, who has been in custody since January 2024, appeared earlier than the Court docket of Attraction on Tuesday. Nevertheless, the court docket refused to overturn the Supreme Court docket’s prior ruling, citing the gravity of the costs and the power of the prosecution’s case.
Justice Vivene Harris, who presided over the attraction, said there was no compelling purpose to intrude with the Supreme Court docket’s resolution. The court docket positioned vital weight on the alleged use of a firearm within the crime and the proof offered by the Crown.
Silvera’s authorized group, led by King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie and legal professional Patrice Riley, submitted an unbiased ballistic report in help of the bail utility. Nevertheless, Justice Harris dismissed the report’s significance, describing it as “simply an opinion” that didn’t outweigh the Crown’s forensic proof.
In line with police reviews, 42-year-old Mellissa Silvera was discovered lifeless on the couple’s residence in Stony Hill, St Andrew, on November 10, 2023. Preliminary assumptions recommended a pure dying, however a autopsy examination performed weeks later revealed she had been shot a number of instances. Investigators reportedly recovered three bullet fragments from her physique.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Dwayne Inexperienced, representing the Crown, maintains that the proof strongly implicates Silvera in his spouse’s killing.
The case is scheduled for a trial readiness listening to on September 25, 2025, with the trial set to start on January 12, 2026.
