Convicted murderer says she acted in self-defence

Convicted murderer Romancia Odwin has told the No. 4 Supreme Court that she was defending herself when Ronald Smokey Skeete was killed, as her attorney urged the court to depart from the usual 40-year sentence starting point.

The former national netballer, now 26, of Whopping, Orange Hill, St James, was unanimously convicted by a jury of murdering 56-year-old Skeete. She was also found guilty of unlawfully wounding Skeete’s girlfriend, Zonelle Sobers, with intent to maim, disfigure or disable her between July 18 and 19, 2020.

In her pre-sentencing statement to the court, Odwin said she had become a target of the deceased at the age of 13 and had been afraid to talk to her parents about it because they were all close friends.