Colin Francis finally charged with murder of Nestor Vasquez, Jr.

Published by BBN Staff at November 25, 2019

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Posted: Monday, November 25, 2019. 7:54 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: Released late last week on bail for a charge of attempted murder, 29-year-old Colin Francis spent less than 24 hours as a free man, as reports suggested police and the Director of Public Prosecutions sought him on murder charges.

It seems that the police investigation into the death of Nestor Vasquez Jr. on June 8 in a holding cell at the Queen Street Police Station had advanced further than anyone, including his family, knew, as reports ran hot that he was again a wanted man.

And on Friday, police brought him in and formally charged him with that beating death, and this morning he was arraigned before Senior Magistrate Aretha Ford.

The Supreme Court, if the evidence is enough, will try Francis and so he was not required to make a plea. He was remanded to prison until January 7, 2020, but can seek bail at the Supreme Court.

It has been widely reported that Francis is a mental patient, who was visiting the Port Loyola Mental Health Day Clinic on Fabers’ Road when he allegedly inflicted a stab wound to Nurse Augustina Elijio, a senior health care professional who is a former Deputy Director for Health Services in the field of nursing.

While detained for that charge at the Queen Street Police Station, he was put in a cell with Vasquez Jr., 60, who was brutally beaten and lapsed into unconsciousness, dying 48 hours later.

Francis’ attorney, Richard “Dickie” Bradley, submitted that a psychiatrist should evaluate his mental state while he is in prison.

Bradley, acting pro bono, told reporters that the family approached him over the weekend after Francis was detained, reportedly in the same block where the incident in June took place.

According to Bradley, despite reports of such, there was no mental health evaluation conducted on Francis on his initial arraignment for the attempted murder of Nurse Elijio. One has now been ordered, to be concluded in a month.

If Francis is found to be insane or incapable of understanding what he did, he cannot legally be tried for murder. The evaluation could suggest a course of treatment that would make him capable of doing so.

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