A  jury has found 31-year-old Delano Forbes guilty of murdering post office worker Maurison Thomas, bringing an end to weeks of dramatic testimony in a case that has gripped the nation since 2018.

This is his first conviction in a series of four murders allegedly committed by Forbes between 2017 and 2018, which earned him the notorious moniker ‘Vampire Killer’ after police allegedly discovered bottles of blood at his residence.

Forbes, of Swetes Village, now faces sentencing on February 20 before Justice Ann Marie Smith.

Thomas, a 62-year-old former General Post Office employee, was found dead at his Matthews Village home in All Saints on March 7, 2018. A pathologist testified that Thomas died from brain injuries and skull fractures caused by tremendous force from a blunt object.

The murder occurred during a month-long period when Forbes had allegedly escaped from police custody while being escorted to a crime scene related to three previous murder charges. He was recaptured on March 9, 2018, hiding in a pump house in the Follies area.

The prosecution closed its case after calling 11 witnesses over five days of proceedings which were spread across several weeks. 

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Clement Joseph presented what he described as a compelling circumstantial case, asking the jury to consider the totality of the evidence despite the absence of any eyewitness or video of the actual killing.

Central to the Crown’s case was the testimony of Thomas’s daughter, who described arriving at her father’s home after he failed to make contact with her – behaviour she described as unusual. Upon arrival, she witnessed someone in an army-coloured hoodie fleeing the residence. She described the person as dark-skinned, approximately five-foot-five or five-foot-six, with small plaits. Thomas’s body was discovered inside the house shortly after.

Police recovered that distinctive army-coloured hoodie when Forbes was apprehended in the pump house weeks later. Also found in his possession were items identified as belonging to Thomas, including:

– A Tommy Hilfiger wallet containing $285, which the daughter had given her father

– A black bag belonging to the deceased

– Two cell phones, one of which belonged to Thomas

– Red boots

– A belt which belonged to the deceased

– Other personal items

Prosecutors also presented footage showing someone resembling Forbes in an army-coloured hoodie searching through a black bag said to belong to the victim. Joseph told the jury that Forbes had recorded this video himself and deleted it from a phone, but police investigators managed to retrieve the deleted footage.

In his closing arguments, the DPP emphasized the pathologist’s testimony about the severity of Thomas’s injuries, particularly the fractured skull that required tremendous force to inflict. He recounted the daughter’s testimony about the unusual silence from her father and the person she saw fleeing the scene wearing the distinctive hoodie.

The DPP stressed the significance of the victim’s possessions found with Forbes after his capture, and the self-incriminating video footage that he argued conclusively tied the accused to the crime.

Joseph asked the jury to dismiss defence claims that the case represented an elaborate conspiracy to frame Forbes, questioning what possible motive authorities would have for such a scheme. He challenged the notion that multiple witnesses, physical evidence, and video footage could all be fabricated or manipulated to implicate an innocent man.

Defence’s Case

Defence attorney Sherfield Bowen argued that the investigation was fundamentally flawed and riddled with mistakes that created reasonable doubt about his client’s guilt.

Bowen highlighted several critical investigative failures:

– No crime scene sketch was created, despite this being standard procedure

– No fingerprints were lifted from multiple surfaces throughout Thomas’s house, including the refrigerator and door post, despite what Bowen called opportunities that were “nine months pregnant” with potential evidence

– A pipe believed to be the murder weapon was sent for DNA testing, but the results were never presented to the jury

The defence attorney said police presented no forensic evidence – no DNA, no fingerprints – placing Forbes inside Thomas’s home. He stressed that DNA evidence would constitute proof beyond reasonable doubt, and that its absence was telling.

Bowen also highlighted what he termed an error involving Thomas’s Social Security card. One senior police officer testified the card was found in the victim’s wallet, while crime scene photographs appeared to show the card next to the body. The DPP addressed this discrepancy in his closing, clarifying that while the card was identified, it was not stated definitively that it was inside the wallet.

The defence reminded jurors that Forbes had told police a man from Liberta had given him the items found in his possession, a lead Bowen claimed investigators never pursued.

Forbes’s conviction in the Thomas murder is merely the first chapter in a much larger legal saga. He faces three additional murder charges for the deaths of Wilfred “Bongo” Williams in Swetes, Shawn Henry in Pointe and Lisue Williams on All Saints Road.

All four murders allegedly occurred between 2017 and 2018. Forbes gained widespread notoriety after police claimed he drank his victims’ blood, resulting in the “Vampire Killer” moniker. When he was initially arrested in December 2017, police reportedly discovered two bottles containing what appeared to be blood near his residence in Swetes.

A Long Road to Justice

The case has been marked by extraordinary delays and legal challenges. Forbes was first charged in 2017, meaning justice has taken more than seven years to materialize. The trial was further complicated when the defence challenged his mental competency to stand trial in 2022.

Psychiatrist Dr. Griffin Benjamin provided expert testimony after assessing Forbes on multiple occasions, concluding that while the accused exhibited signs of anti-social personality disorder and substance use disorder, these conditions were not severe enough to render him incompetent to stand trial. The psychiatrist testified that Forbes’s thought process was organized and that he was deliberate in his actions.

Acting Superintendent of Prison Jermaine Anthony testified to observing erratic behaviour from Forbes, describing how the inmate would sometimes behave like a five-year-old child and at other times engage in intellectual dialogue. Anthony reported that Forbes had inserted objects into his body requiring surgical removal, attacked inmates and officers, and periodically refused to eat.

Despite these concerns, a jury ultimately found Forbes competent to stand trial, paving the way for these proceedings.

 Adding to the complexity of the case, Forbes was charged with escaping from lawful custody in February 2018 when he allegedly fled from police officers who were escorting him to a location related to the murders.

Forbes claimed that an officer told him he was being set free because then-Commissioner of Police Wendel Robinson (now Wendel Alexander) had said there was no evidence.

In September 2020, Magistrate Ngaio Emanuel-Edwards found Forbes not guilty of escaping lawful custody, noting the improbability of someone jumping 30 feet off a cliff while wearing foot cuffs without sustaining severe injuries. 

It was during this period of freedom, between his alleged escape and recapture, that Thomas was murdered.

What’s Next

Forbes is scheduled to appear before Justice Ann Marie Smith for sentencing on February 20th. The conviction carries significant weight as prosecutors prepare to pursue the remaining three murder charges against him.

For Thomas’s family, the verdict brings a measure of closure after nearly seven years of waiting for justice. For the families of Forbes’s other alleged victims, it offers hope that accountability may finally be achieved in cases that have haunted their communities since 2017.