Linstead killer to be sentenced July
Published:Saturday | May 26, 2018 | 12:00 AMLivern Barrett
It took a jury 40 minutes to find a St Catherine man guilty of killing four people, including a man who was shot after it was discovered that he tried to hide his mobile phone during a robbery.
The seven-member jury voted unanimously to convict Simeon Miller, 34, for the shooting deaths of Garfield Simpson, 78; Shanna-Kay Simpson, 20; Reicodel Jackson, 25; and Dean Pratt, 43, in the community known as Mickelton in Linstead, St Catherine, on August 20, 2014.
The verdict was handed down in the Gun Court division of the Home Circuit Court last Friday and Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on July 6.
PROSECUTORS' EVIDENCE
Prosecutors Adley Duncan, assistant director of public prosecutions, and Stephen Smith, led evidence during the trial that Miller was one of three armed thugs, dressed in military and police uniforms, who surprised a group of patrons at a shop and demanded that they hand over all their valuables.
Jurors heard evidence that Jackson did not hand over his phone, which the robbers found during a search.
"A idiot you tek we fa bwoy," one of the robbers said before Jackson was shot.
Pratt, who is from the community, was killed when the gunmen opened fire at his vehicle as he drove past the robbery in progress.
The patrons reported that they heard loud explosions moments before they were approached by the three armed thugs.
When the police arrived, the bodies of Garfield and Shanna-Kay Simpson were found with gunshot wounds in the area where the patrons reported hearing the loud explosions.
The bullets recovered from the bodies of Jackson and Garfield Simpson were sent for ballistic testing and were found to have been fired from the same weapon.
Miller, however, has maintained his innocence, saying he was at home with his female companion and young children at the time of the killing.