Suspects held for transgender murders, police say it's not a hate crime

Suspects have been held in connection with the murders of two transgender people, a release from the police said yesterday.

The release also sought to clarify reports that people who identify as transgender are being targeted in hate crimes. It said the police have no evidence to suggest that people identifying themselves as transgender are being targeted in any way.

It added that investigators from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations (Region III) on Monday responded to a report of a body being discovered at the Debe campus of the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) at SS Erin Road in Debe.

The body, which bore multiple stab wounds, was later identified as that of Keil Lensay, 35, of St Augustine. Lensay did not identify as transgender, the police release said. However, at the scene, a suspect who identified himself as transgender confessed to the killing, which the police have classified as domestic in nature.

The 35-year-old suspect, who is from Ste Madeleine and who remains in custody, reportedly told police he had been in a relationship with the victim.

After the results of an autopsy, investigators are expected to approach the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice on laying charges.

With respect to the death of Keon Patterson, 28, of Laventille, on December 5, at the Nelson Mandela Park in St Clair, two men aged 65 and 31, both from La Puerta in Diego Martin, are currently in custody, pending the outcome of the investigation. This killing is also being treated as domestic in nature.