Life sentence for convict in Chinese businessman’s murder
Published:Wednesday | May 31, 2023 | 12:54 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
The popular Chinese supermarket owner who was killed during a robbery at his business place in Porus, Manchester, last December, lost his life after his killers abandoned their original plan to rob a Brinks truck and instead targeted his supermarket.
Jin Xian Ye, a 39-year-old businessman and a co-owner of the supermarket in southern Manchester, was shot to death on the night of December 9.
A customer, Alphonso Cohen, who hailed from the Berrydale community, was killed outside the supermarket as one of the hoodlums fired wildly while leaving the supermarket.
The details surrounding Ye’s death were disclosed yesterday following the sentencing of Ajay Frazer, who pleaded guilty for his involvement in the murder.
The 22-year-old Clarendon mechanic was sentenced to life in prison with a stipulation that he serves 15 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
Justice Leighton Pusey handed down the sentence after Frazer pleaded guilty in the Home Circuit Court in an in-chamber hearing.
Frazer also pleaded guilty to three other charges.
For robbery with aggravation he was given 10 years and, for wounding with intent, 12 years.
Frazer was also sentenced to serve 15 years each on three counts of making use of a firearm.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
A senior prosecutor who briefed the media following the hearing said the sentences were recommended by the prosecution after considering Frazer’s early guilty plea as well as the facts of the case, certain administrative processes and enactments.
The prosecutor also indicated that the director of public prosecutions, after careful consideration, recommended 15 years for the gun-related charge although the mandatory minimum for the charge is 20 years under the new Firearm Act.
According to the details shared by the prosecutor, on the day of the incident, the men travelled in two motor vehicles, a black Toyota Mark X and a Nissan Tiana to Mandeville to rob an armoured truck.
However, after arriving at the location, they abandoned the plan after multiple armoured trucks were seen.
The men left the location but came up with a new plan to rob the supermarket.
On reaching the supermarket, the men in the Mark X remained in the vehicle which was parked in the vicinity while Frazer and his cronies, who were in the other vehicle, went inside the supermarket.
The supermarket owner was robbed, shot and killed and an undetermined sum of money stolen.
Following the robbery, the men returned to their respective vehicles but four men who were in the Mark X were shortly after arrested when police intercepted the car in Mandeville.
Attorney-at-law Paul Gentles represented Frazer.
In the meantime, his co-accused Chavaugn Wright, Treyvon Williams, Rickeem Mohammed and Curtis Gardener were remanded on murder charges on Monday. They are scheduled to return to court on October 30 for a plea and case management hearing.
The court was told in that hearing that both post-mortem reports were ready but that the Communication Forensics and Cybercrime Unit (CFCU) report was outstanding and should be completed by July 31.
In the meantime, the court ordered that disclosure be made to the defence by June 2.