On Saturday, September 23, 2023, the St Ann police arrested a suspect accused of raping and killing an eight-year-old female child and then allegedly attempting to kill himself.
The police said the 27-year-old sanitation worker from Discovery Bay, St Ann, reportedly tried to kill himself after allegedly raping and killing Talia Thomas at his home. The suspect was a neighbor and an associate of the child’s parents.
According to reporting, at about 3:15 p.m., the child was home with her family when the suspect came over and took her to his dwelling, where he raped and killed her.
The police said the suspect then tried to kill himself by putting a 9mm bullet in a pair of pliers, placing it to his forehead, and heating the cartridge with a candle. The bullet exploded in his forehead, causing a concussion.
Family members heard the explosion and went to enquire. They reportedly saw the suspect inflicting wounds on himself with a knife and found the child’s lifeless nude body in a pool of blood.
The police rushed the suspect and the child to the hospital, where authorities pronounced the child dead and admitted the suspect in serious condition.
Law enforcement officers found four homemade firearms in the suspect’s room.
He is currently under police guard at the hospital.