A man was imprisoned after, in a fit of rage fueled by drugs and alcohol, he fatally attacked his girlfriend and her family with a knife.
After killing Samantha Drummonds, her mother Tanysha Ofori-Akuffo, her grandmother Dolet Hill, and Ms. Hill’s partner, Denton Burke, at Ms. Hill’s Bermondsey home in April 2022, Joshua Jacques, 29, was given a life sentence with a minimum of 46 years in prison.
The four were discovered in a terraced house on Delaford Road, to which Metropolitan Police officers were called.
After attacking the victims with a knife, Jacques left a “bloodbath” behind. The three women were found “heaped together” in the kitchen, and Mr. Burke’s body was discovered at the bottom of the stairs by the responding officers.
When armed police arrived, they discovered Jacques praying, naked, and screaming, “Allah, take me!” and “Kill me now” and “Get rid of me” and “God please forgive me.”
Jacques later declared, “I ain’t even in the wrong, I did them for sacrifice,” and he forewarned, “I will do something stupid again,” at Lewisham Hospital.
Because of his mental illness at the time, he denied murder but admitted to their manslaughter.
After two hours of deliberation, an Old Bailey jury found Jacques, of Minard Road, Lewisham, south-east London, guilty of four counts of murder in December of last year.
The prosecution invited the judge to consider whether the multiple killings’ “exceptional nature” called for a life sentence.
After a two-hour deliberation, an Old Bailey jury found Jacques, a resident of Lewisham, south-east London, guilty of four counts of murder.
Speaking outside the courtroom following the guilty verdict, the victims’ relatives criticised Jacques for his lack of regret and said that a life sentence was “only fair.”
“Justice,” stated Tracey-Ann Henry, Miss Drummonds’ aunt and the sister of Ms. Ofori-Akuffo and Ms. Hill. For my mother, stepfather, sister, and niece, justice has been served. So, go in peace. Lastly. At last.
“It’s affected me really bad because I lost my mom, sister, stepdad, and niece,” she continued.
I’m celebrating Christmas alone for the second time this year. It will therefore be a very emotional event on Christmas Day.
Chyloe Daley, Mr. Burke’s niece, described the guilty decision as a “very long time coming.”
“Grateful is the first word that comes,” she remarked. Sadness mixed with happiness since we lost loved ones, important things, and lives, and we finally heard today what we had been waiting for more than a year.”
The family, she said, would “hope and pray” that Jacques serves out the remainder of his days behind bars.
“In the end, it’s up to the judge,” Ms. Daley continued. However, four family members were taken, so I believe that is all we are currently capable of asking for.
It seems to be that serious, in my opinion. Indeed, it is only just.
Ms. Daley continued, speaking of their departed loved ones, “They weren’t just lives that were taken; they were people who lived and were funny, kind, and giving.”
“From now on, that is how we want to think about them.”
The jury was informed that Jacques had 11 prior convictions for 20 offences, including possession of a silver knuckle duster, robbery, and cannabis.
After seeking hospital treatment for consuming water from a toilet, he underwent a mental health evaluation for the first time in April 2016.
Jacques was taken into police custody after he threw food all over his cell and threatened to shoot and stab a security guard.
He claimed to have consumed 3 grammes of skunk cannabis every day and that he would not think about cutting back, vowing to continue smoking the drug “even if it killed.”
After being observed praying in the middle of a busy road in Brixton, south London, in 2018, he was placed under detention under the Mental Health Act. He spent the period of April 27 to approximately August 7 in the hospital.
Jurors were informed that the initial impression upon admission was one of drug-induced mania with psychotic features.
He was given a 51-month prison sentence in February 2020 for conspiring to traffic in heroin and crack cocaine and for having marijuana. On November 11, 2021, he was set free.
Probation reports from April of last year described Jacques as talkative and involved.
He informed his probation officer that he had received an offer to work at a radio station three days prior to the murder.
A friend was informed by Ms. Drummonds two days later that she thought Jacques was going through a “episode” and had been “chatting all night and was fixated on topics.”
Mr. Little informed the jury that neither Jacques nor any medical calls had been made prior to the killings.
For the second time, on April 25, 2022, Jacques went to the residence of Mr. Burke and Ms. Hill.
Mr Little told jurors that Ms Drummonds had been residing there while her own flat was being renovated, and that Ms. Ofori-Akuffo, also known as Racquel, occasionally stayed at the property to care for her mother, who was undergoing treatment for cancer.
When Ms. Drummonds called Jacques’s mother, Norma Derrivere, following his attack, all she could manage to say was, “Norma, he’s sta… sta… ahhh.”
That evening, Jacques and his mother also spoke via FaceTime, and at one point after two in the morning, he declared, “I’m ending it, I’m going to make a sacrifice.”
Around 1.42 in the morning, neighbour Alice Canal called 999 after hearing a cat screeching, a male voice cursing, movement, banging, and what she thought was someone falling down stairs.
On his behalf, it was stated that Jacques had displayed manic symptoms resembling those of bipolar disorder.
Just a few days before the killings, on April 19, he doubled his consumption of skunk cannabis.
But the defence contended that the escalation occurred weeks after he started experiencing sleep difficulties, a sign of manic episodes.
