Tashieka Mair, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Forty-two-year-old Aston Campbell, charged for allegedly hacking his wife to death and dumping her body parts in a pit latrine, was remanded in custody when he again appeared before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Attorney-at-law Shaun Reynolds, who in the first court appearance had deferred a bail application until the case file was completed, will now have to wait until February 5 to again ask for bail.

When the case against the accountant, a resident of Porto Bello in St. James, was mentioned, the court was told that the post-mortem report was still outstanding.

"I was hoping that the post-mortem would be ready so I could address the issues I see as important to my client's defence," said a seemingly frustrated Mr. Reynolds.

He argued that the cause of death would be vital to his application, especially since the allegations indicate that his client did not admit to murdering his estranged wife, only to dismembering her. This, the attorney said, makes a great difference in his case.

The allegations are that on November 18, 2006, the daughter of Carol Taylor-Campbell, tried to locate her and called her several times without any response.

Dismembering wife

She made a subsequent report to the police, who accompanied her to the house where the accused man also lived. He was questioned as to his wife's whereabouts to which he responded that he did not know where she was.

It is said that the police made checks of the house and allegedly saw bloodstains on the roof and the mattress in Mrs. Campbell's bedroom. Blood was also found in the trunk of Mr. Campbell's car.

Further allegations are that he later admitted to dismembering his wife and subsequently took the lawmen to a location in Lucea, Hanover, where he said he had dumped some of her body parts.