Twenty-five-year-old father of two, Keimo Corbin has been handed a life sentence for the killing of agriculturalist Anthony Breedy, with an order that he serves no less than 11 years before becoming eligible for parole.
The man was indicted for the capital offence, admitting at his arraignment last month that between March 12th and 14th, 2016 he murdered Breedy during a robbery at the man’s home.
The agriculturalist was found dead in the bottom flat of his Lot 67 Hill Foot, Soesdyke/ Linden Highway home. His hands and feet were bound and his head was bashed in. A piece of wood and a concrete block suspected to be the murder weapons were found at the scene.
According to the facts presented by Prosecutor Latifah Elliot, which Corbin accepted as being the case, he in the company of two other persons went to Breedy’s home where they bound, gagged and beat him, before ransacking the premises and carting off a quantity of household items.
Police had said that the men were all found with a number of Breedy’s belongings in their possession.
A post-mortem examination would later reveal that he died as a result of asphyxia due to manual strangulation compounded by multiple blunt trauma to the head.
At his sentencing hearing yesterday afternoon, Corbin in his address to the court said that not only was he sorry for his actions, but he sought the forgiveness of the dead man’s family.
Crediting his involvement in the crime to following bad company, the man said he sincerely regrets that decision, lamenting that he should have known better, though he claimed to have been unaware of what turned out to be the intention of his accomplices.
He then beseeched Justice Jo-Ann Barlow for leniency, stating that he wanted to demonstrate that he is a changed person, intent on making valuable contributions to society.
“I am not a bad person,” he told the Judge.
Defence attorney Ravindra Mohabir also made a plea for clemency on his client’s behalf; submitting for the Judge’s consideration that Corbin was only 18 years old at the commission of the offence.
Counsel in his mitigating plea also asked the Judge to consider his client’s expression of remorse and that he had accepted responsibility for his actions at the first given opportunity, thus saving the Court considerable time in otherwise having to conduct a trial.
Justice Barlow noted that having regard to all the mitigating and aggravating circumstances of the case, a base of 28 years was appropriate.
She then made a number of deductions including for the period Corbin had spent on remand awaiting trial and the mandatory one-third deduction for his early plea.
Following all the deductions, Justice Barlow informed Corbin that she was sentencing him to life in prison and that he must first serve 11 years, nine months and 20 days before he becomes eligible for parole.
In her reprimand, she told an attentive Corbin to be mindful of the friends he keeps.
“Choose them wisely,” the judge said.
