J’cans accused of killing pensioner facing murder charges in London
TWO Jamaicans accused of shooting and burning a pensioner alive when he threatened to pull the plug on a lucrative crack house are now facing murder charges in London.
A report in the South London Press Friday identified one of the men as Rasha ‘Turbo’ Reid while the other was not named.
The pensioner, 67-year-old cabinet maker Carlton Speid, was dragged out of his bedroom, forced to his knees by Rasha Reid, 37, and shot in the chest at close range, prosecutors claimed.
Speid was then doused with petrol and set on fire while his horrified girlfriend hid behind a door.
The court was told that in the years leading up to his murder, Speid had allowed his Brixton home to be used as a crack den in return for cash and drugs.
While Speid was banished to his bedroom, his home was allegedly jammed with prostitutes, addicts and dealers who plied their trade through the night.
But when the pensioner threatened to raise rental rates and allow rival dealers to use the flat, the court heard that Reid decided to take action.
Allegations are that ‘Turbo’ burst into the house in Bob Marley Way, Brixton, on January 15, 2001. He was with another man.
Prosecutor Crispin Aylett said: “He grabbed Mr Speid by the neck and pointed the gun at him. The other man then came into the room and he had a red plastic carrier bag and took out a red can and started splashing petrol on Carlton Speid.”
It was not until the case was reviewed in 2005 that police discovered Turbo was the street name for Reid.
When arrested, Reid claimed he had been living in Jamaica at the time of the killing.
Home Office investigations revealed he entered the UK in 1999 and had stayed on a student visa after his initial six months expired.
A photograph taken at a christening in Stockwell also proved Reid was in the country at the time of the killing.
Reid, of no fixed address but from the Wandsworth area, denies murder.
His girlfriend, Zoe Scott, 35, also of no fixed address, is also on trial after police accused her of perverting the course of justice. She denies the charge.
