Ex-cop gets life in prison

FITZROY KING could not hide his disappointment yesterday after a High Court judge gave his daughter's killer a sentence that could make him a free man in 25 years.

"Me can't say the justice system nah work enuh because him ah pay some consequences as far as taking my daughter's life is concerned. The problem weh mi have is him still have a life," the elderly farmer said of former police constable Lincoln McKoy.

"Me woulda more prefer if him did lose fi him life," King admitted.

SENTENCING

McKoy was sentenced in the Home Circuit Court yesterday by High Court Judge Lloyd Hibbert to life imprisonment at hard labour. Hibbert also ordered that the 29-year-old should serve 25 years before he is eligible for parole.

The former constable was convicted of murder in the same court on April 13, less than three years after he shot Jessica King, his estranged girlfriend, in the neck and throat at close range while they were at the Errol Flynn Marina in Portland.

Prosecutors Paula Llewellyn and Joel Brown led evidence that McKoy also shot himself twice in the face in what they believe was a murder and attempted suicide triggered by the young woman's decision to end their relationship.

A woman who witnessed the killing later gave police investigators a statement detailing how she overheard Jessica King begging for her life before she was shot.

"Every woman has a right to choose their partner. Ms King decided she no longer wanted to be your partner, so she left you. Even while she [the witness] was passing and Ms King was pleading for her life, that did not deter you," Hibbert admonished McKoy before announcing his sentence.

The former constable showed no emotion after the sentence was announced and calmly said, "Thank you, Sir" before he was led from the courtroom in handcuffs.

The elder King gave a less-than-enthusiastic endorsement of the nation's justice system while emphasising that McKoy's demise was not a time for him to celebrate.

"The justice system ... it ah work. It might no efficient, but me haffi go with the flow. Me can't change it fi suit myself. Me no have nothing fi celebrate enuh, but me still feel 75 per cent better fi know seh him a pay some penalty fi the crime him commit," he told The Gleaner.