A 19-year-old youth in Jamaica has been sentenced to life imprisonment after he was convicted Monday for the murder of a businessman last February.
Justice Courtney Day imposed the sentence on Shevanne Harris, who was also sentenced to five years for illegal possession of a firearm and three years for illegal possession of ammunition. The sentences will run concurrently, and he will be eligible for parole after 21 years.
The court heard that the businessman, Barrington Herdsman, was shot and killed execution style on February 1 last year by Harris. The teenager had initially pleaded guilty to the offences on January 11 and his sentencing postponed to Monday pending the outcome of a social enquiry report and antecedent.
Herdsman’s widow, the sole eyewitness, told the court that on the day in question her husband, after counting the day’s sales from his business, went and sat outside on a stool. She said shortly afterwards she saw a man enter the business place and looked around. He then removed a firearm from his waistband and walked out of the shop towards her husband.
She said that on reaching her husband the man pointed the gun in the back of her husband’s head and fired several shots before running. Herdsman was rushed to May Pen Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
