67-year-old gets life for killing spouse

A senior citizen who murdered one of his lovers and wounded another wept bitterly after being sentenced to life imprisonment in the St Catherine Circuit Court last Friday.

Ernest Whyte, 67, of McCook’s Pen, St Catherine, was convicted of murdering Denise Bright and wounding his child’s mother.

It was a weeping Whyte who appeared for sentencing before Justice Andrea Pettigrew-Collins. Whyte will be eligible to apply for parole after serving 20 years. He was also sentenced to 11 years’ hard labour for wounding with intent.

Justice Pettigrew-Collins told the father of 13 that she had taken into consideration his guilty plea and that he had not been convicted of a serious crime before the current offences. He was advised that despite his past, it was manifestly clear that the crimes were premeditated.

Facts are that about 2:30 p.m. on September 14, 2018, the accused went to McCook’s Pen, St Catherine, where he had a disagreement with his common-law wife. Whyte used a machete to chop Bright more than 40 times, resulting in her death. He then covered the mutilated body with a sheet of zinc and left the house. Whyte then proceeded to Homestead, outside Spanish Town, where he attacked his child’s mother, chopping her repeatedly.

The second victim was rescued after Whyte attacked the police and was shot and subdued. He was subsequently arrested and charged with murder and wounding with intent.

Whyte was represented by attorneys-at-law Denise Hinson and Donald Bryan.