De­von “Bomb­site” Stew­art, of Pa­tience Hill, ap­peared be­fore a Scar­bor­ough High Court Mas­ter yes­ter­day, charged with the mur­der of 39-year-old Jan­nelle Sowe-Thomas.

Po­lice charged Stew­art on De­cem­ber 22, fol­low­ing ad­vice from the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions. Stew­art was ini­tial­ly ex­pect­ed to ap­pear be­fore the court on Wednes­day. The court did not sit then the mat­ter was set for Thurs­day but due to tech­ni­cal is­sues, that hear­ing was pushed to yes­ter­day.

Stew­art was re­mand­ed in­to cus­tody and the case ad­journed to a date next year.

Sowe-Thomas would have cel­e­brat­ed her 40th birth­day last Fri­day. Her moth­er told Guardian Me­dia she has not yet come to terms with her death.

Po­lice sus­pect a do­mes­tic dis­pute may have been the mo­tive be­hind the mur­der.

Sowe-Thomas, of Sig­nal Hill, was doused with gaso­line and set on fire in Mt Irvine on De­cem­ber 19.

It’s re­port­ed that a sus­pect walked in­to the Shir­van Po­lice Sta­tion and con­fessed be­fore tak­ing of­fi­cers to Gle­nea­gles Dri­ve, where Sowe-Thomas’ body was found in a drain. The up­per part of her body was se­vere­ly burnt and her hand and feet were bound.

Sowe-Thomas was To­ba­go’s 11th mur­der vic­tim for 2023.