The Tribune

A MOTHER of six, believed to be of Bahamian descent, was viciously stabbed to death on Saturday in West Philadelphia.

The 32-year-old woman was stabbed by a 34-year-old man against whom she had a protection-from-abuse order.

Raymond Thompson, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, was being held without bail after turning himself in over the weekend, police there said.

He is accused of stabbing Ashley Lockhart several times inside a Honda Odyssey on the 5300 block of Chestnut Street around 8.30am Saturday, the Inquirer reported.

The news outlet said Thompson told detectives he stabbed Lockhart because he believed she’d been cheating on him, according to law enforcement sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

He is also said to have told detectives that after he stabbed Lockhart — who had been in the van’s passenger seat — he took the Market-Frankford line to Kensington to use heroin before he called police to turn himself in, sources said.

It was not clear when Lockhart obtained the protection-from-abuse order against Thompson, why she had sought it, or what its conditions were.

Joanne Pescatore, homicide chief in the District Attorney’s Office, said at a news conference Monday that she believed that Thompson and Lockhart were still living together, but that Lockhart “obviously did the right thing” by seeking help from the courts in obtaining the order, according to the inquirer.

A GoFundMe established for Lockhart’s six children said Lockhart was “an amazing mother” who “devoted her time, energy, and made sacrifices for [her children] that they will forever remember.”

Thompson, the news outlet said, had several past convictions for crimes including drug offences, according to court records. Most recently, in 2018, he was sentenced to six to 23 months in jail after pleading guilty to charges, including risking a catastrophe and resisting arrest.

In that case, court records say, Thompson broke free from police as they tried to arrest him for a drug violation at 15th and Market Streets, then jumped onto train tracks in an attempt to escape.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release that it had been made aware of an alleged homicide of a Bahamian citizen in Philadelphia.

“Nothing has been confirmed by US authorities,” the release said, “but The Bahamas Counsel General has been in contact with the Philadelphia Police Department and will advise the public further as more information becomes available.”