A man who was sentenced to death in North Carolina for the shooting deaths of a pregnant woman and her boyfriend is related to an ex-England footballer, AfroSaxonVoice can exclusively reveal.
Seaga Edward Gillard, 35, was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of April Lynn Holland, 22, who was pregnant, and her partner Wayne Garvey, 28.
The couple was found fatally shot in a motel almost 6 years ago. Holland was four months pregnant with her fourth child, and could not be saved.
Gillard, who originally comes from St Lucia is said to be related to the Ex-premiership and England international on his father’s side of the family.
A source close to the family on the East coast of St Lucia, where the footballer’s grandparents comes from said: “Seaga is related to an Ex-England footballer. His father Agustine Raymond comes from the same village as his grandparents. They are cousins and some in the family may not even be aware of that. The footballer’s grandfather is related to Seaga’s father Agustine Raymond. The two are cousins. Our village is a small and people know each other.” said the source who spoke to us exclusively from the Eastern Caribbean Island.
Gillard was convicted four years ago by a jury in Wake County and sentenced to death after his conviction for the double murder. The death sentence is the first handed down by a Wake County jury in more than a decade in North Carolina.
Prosecutors portrayed St Lucian-born Gillard who moved to the US Virgin Islands with his mother and then the US mainland as a man who preyed on sex workers and told the jury that the case was about securing “maximum justice.”
The last time an inmate was executed in North Carolina was in 2006 when Samuel Flippen was put to death after his conviction for the murder of his 2-year-old stepdaughter.
Speaking exclusively from The Caribbean island the family insider said: “We are all saddened to hear about this. This cannot be easy for any parent to hear that their son is convicted of a crime like this. We hope that the sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment instead.
This young man deserves a second chance. We feel sorry for the victim’s relatives as this can’t be easy for them either. They are the victims of this as well. We have been following the news like everyone else about this. We are truly sorry here in our village about this whole thing. We are sorry for the deceased and their family.”
Gilliard’s father Agustine Raymond 64, a father of three passed away in January 2021. A family friend said that he was a lovely man who was always there for his family and friends.
The family insider said that It is not clear whether the footballer whom AfroSaxonVoice is NOT naming for security reasons is aware of this piece of development. ” I don’t know whether he and his family in the UK know the connection but our place is a small community and news gets around quick.”