TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Witness Describes Hearing Sounds Of Beheading

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARK DOUGLAS

News Channel 8

Published: September 26, 2008

Murder trial witness Monique Pennywell told a jury today how she locked herself in the bathroom of her St. Petersburg home on Feb. 4, 2002, while her former boyfriend Dennis Roache beheaded her new lover in the master bedroom on the other side of the door.

The 36-year-old mother of seven testified that she heard Roache, 40, talking to 18-year-old Gregory Shannon as he began wielding the first of 52 blows with a machete that killed Shannon.

"He said, I told you man to stay away from my damn baby's mother and my kids," Pennywell testified.

Pennywell was on the telephone with 911 as the murder took place, begging the operator to send help.

"I'm scared. Please you all got to lock this crazy man up," Pennywell said on one of the two 911 calls she made from the bathroom during the murder.

In a 911 recording played for the jury, Roache can be heard in the background swearing at Shannon as he delivered blow after blow with the machete.

Pennywell eventually emerged from her bathroom hideaway to find Shannon's headless body at the foot of her bed and no sign of Roache.

Neighbors testified Thursday that Roache emerged from the house with a machete in one hand and Shannon's head in the other. They say he placed it on a car and positioned a mirror in front of it.

Defense attorneys argue that Roache is delusional, was legally insane at the time, and believed he was protecting his children from sexual molestation.

Prosecutors call the killing a premeditated act of jealousy and say Roache knew exactly what he was doing.

The trial resumes Monday at the Pinellas Justice Center with a final witness for the prosecution. After that, defense attorneys begin making their case for an acquittal by reason of insanity.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT