In what has been described as a “crime of passion”, two Jamaican men were on Thursday sentenced to life in prison for killing an Anglican priest they met on a popular dating app for gay people.
According to Loop Jamaica, Lloyd Thompson and Tafari Wilson were implicated for killing Reverend Father Larius Lewis at his residence in the Jamaican town of Chapelton in September last year. And per the conditions of their conviction, the presiding judge ruled 22-year-old Thompson will only become eligible for parole consideration after serving 21 years of his sentence while Wilson, 20, will be eligible after 19 years in prison. The convicted men were handed the punishment after they pleaded guilty to the murder.
Thompson and Wilson reportedly told authorities they met the 36-year-old Anglican priest on Grindr – a “social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people.” A police report of the incident states that Lewis died after he was hit in the head with a piece of furniture following an altercation over the priest liking one of the convicted men more than the other.
In the aftermath of the attack, the two men reportedly made away with items including a mobile phone and a desktop computer. A Hyundai vehicle parked in the priest’s residence was also stolen by the men, Loop Jamaica reported.
Thompson and Wilson were apprehended in January for this. And though initial photos of the two killers that were shared by some social media users claimed they were missing, reports later stated they had actually been arrested in connection with the murder of the Anglican priest.
