Stepson of banker murdered in church found not guilty

Javan Garwood, the man who was on trial for the 2021 shooting death of his stepmother, 51-year-old banker Andrea Lowe-Garwood, at the Agape Christian Fellowship Church in Falmouth, Trelawny, has been found not guilty.

The jury on Thursday returned verdicts of not guilty on both counts of murder and accessory before the fact against Garwood in the Trelawny Circuit Court.

The Crown today told the court that no further evidence would be presented against Garwood before Chief Justice Bryan Sykes directed jurors to deliver a verdict of not guilty.

Two other men—Dwight Bingham and Leon Hines—were also arrested in connection with Lowe-Garwood’s death after she was gunned down in the church during a praise and worship service in January 2021.

The triggerman in the slaying, Bingham, who pleaded guilty to murder and illegal possession of firearm, is to return to court on July 25, 2023, when sentencing is slated to be handed down.

Trial judge, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, has requested a social enquiry report for Bingham.

Hines, the driver of the getaway car, previously pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm and being an accessory after the fact, and was sentenced to six years in prison on March 25, 2021, as part of a plea deal.

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