Main suspect in 2017 NWD murder arraigned

After being on the run for almost four years, Joseph Kerr, who is accused of fatally shooting Orlando La Cruz, 40, in June 2017, was on Thursday charged with murder.
Kerr, 59, appeared before Magistrate Dylon Bess at the Matthews Ridge Magistrate’s Court and was not required to plead to the indictment when it was read to him. The Police stated that on June 15, 2017, at Jack and Vieira Backdam, North West District (NWD), he murdered Orlando La Cruz.
As such, he was remanded to prison until August 3, 2021.
It was reported that on the day in question, La Cruz was lying in a hammock at his mining camp when Kerr and another man visited him and they started to consume alcohol and shortly after, Kerr asked La Cruz to perform oral sex on him, however, when the now dead man refused, an argument ensued.
During the ordeal, La Cruz was shot in the right side neck by Kerr. After the shooting incident, Kerr and his acquaintance left the scene.
The injured La Cruz was subsequently discovered in the hammock bleeding by his colleagues a few hours later. He was picked up and taken to the Matthews Ridge District Hospital but it was too late.
Meanwhile, Kerr’s accomplice, Eustace Abrams, has already been charged for the murder.
He was found guilty on the lesser count of manslaughter by a 12-member jury on April 6, 2021. He is awaiting sentencing.