By Carlena Knight
The man murder trial for the man accused of killing Vincia James will begin on November 2.
Mikhail Gomes is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend who disappeared without a trace just over four years ago.
James, of New Winthorpes, was last seen on surveillance camera leaving her Old Parham Road workplace, Dixie Operations Ltd, shortly after 1 pm on April 7, 2017.
Since then, there has been several islandwide searches for the mother of one, but her body has never been found.
Gomes denies killing her, but prosecutors believe there is enough circumstantial evidence to proceed with a trial.
Last year, Gomes who hails from the Pigotts received bail in the High Court.
Despite strong opposition from the prosecution, Justice Iain Morley granted him bail in the amount of $200,000 which was secured by a $40,000 in cash deposit to the court.
The judge’s rationale for releasing him pending trial was due, he said, to repeated delays to the defendant’s case, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He was ordered to report each day to the St John’s Police Station and is subject to a 9 pm to 5 am curfew until the case is concluded.
Meanwhile, the murder trial for Kenroy “Kenny” Joseph of All Saints will commence on October 4.
Joseph is accused of killing fellow villager Luciene Glennex Brodie in 2016.
It is alleged that on February 29, 2016, both men got into an altercation at Mack Pond in All Saints, which led to Joseph arming himself with a sharp object which he used to inflict wounds to Brodie’s head.
Joseph, who was 39 years old at the time, was charged with attempted murder but that charge was elevated to murder after Brodie succumbed to his injuries on March 16 that year.
Joseph was the first person to be charged with murder in 2016 after an autopsy proved that Brodie’s death was as a result of the wounds he sustained during the incident.