At the New Amsterdam (NA) Court on Monday Magistrate Krishendat Persaud sentenced prison escapee Jermaine Brown to five years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to a charge of escaping from lawful custody.
The court heard that on August 25, 2007, Brown, along with 17 other inmates, staged a daring getaway from the NA prison.
Two days later he was shot after police cornered him and three other prisoners, Neville Williams, Arvendra Deonarine and his brother Carlos King who reportedly engaged police in a shoot-out at an abandoned house in NA where they were said to be hiding.
Police said that Brown opened fire on them and they retaliated, mortally wounding Williams, Deonarine and King.
Brown was admitted to the NA Hospital and was nursing gunshot wounds to his left wrist and upper back. He immediately faced charges upon his release from the institution late November for being in possession of an unlicensed .32 firearm, five spent shells and five live rounds. Reports are that the firearm and ammunition were used in the confrontation with police on August 27.
He is scheduled to return to court on March 31 when that matter would be heard again.
Nine of the prisoners have since been recaptured and were each sentenced to five years in jail while police are still on the hunt for Troy Benn, Alvin Bhola and Anthony Campbell.
Police in Berbice had told this newspaper that they were “following all leads” in the capture of the men.
At the time of his escape, Brown had been on remand for a robbery under arms charge at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court.
Inspector Fazil Karimbaksh, prosecuting, requested that Brown be given the same penalty as the other escapees. Before handing down the sentence, Magistrate Persaud told Brown he was lucky to be alive since his brother was among those killed during the shoot-out.
