SWAIN

The arraignment of former Jamestown Town Council member David Swain on a charge of murder, scheduled for yesterday on the island of Tortola, was postponed until Monday at the earliest.

Swain appeared in court to enter a plea to the charge that he killed his wife, Shelley Tyre, in March 1999. But the matter was postponed after an in-chambers meeting among the judge, the prosecutor and Swain’s local attorney, who was not in the courtroom but participated in the chamber’s conference via teleconference, said Susanna Henighan Potter, a spokeswoman for the deputy governor’s office.

Swain’s case was one of 20 heard. Such delays are not unusual, said Potter, as the status of cases is routinely reviewed in chambers prior to a trial starting.

Potter said she did not know the specific reason for the delay in Swain’s arraignment. The court will review his case again on Monday, she said.

Shelley Tyre, 46, died on the last day of the couple’s vacation to the British Virgin Island of Tortola, on March 12, 1999. David Swain and his wife were scuba diving when, Swain said, the couple separated. She drowned.

Officials in the British Virgin Islands originally ruled Tyre’s death an accident.

But in 2006, in a civil trial in Rhode Island, Swain, now 52, was found responsible for the death of his wife.

An extradition request was filed in May 2007, and after a hearing, officials in Tortola decided earlier this year to charge Swain with murder. He is now being held in prison on the island, awaiting his trial.

tmooney@projo.com