Church killer gets 42 more years

WESTERN BUREAU:

Dwight Bingham, the man who pleaded guilty to the January 2021 murder of former banker Andrea Lowe-Garwood, was sentenced to 45 years in prison in the Trelawny Circuit Court on Tuesday.

Bingham, who is of a Rose Heights address in Montego Bay, St James, had reported confessed to being paid $700,000 to carry out the hit on Lowe-Garwood, who was reported locked in a property dispute with relatives of her late husband.

The killer, who will see the three years already served behind bars deducted from his sentence, will have to serve a minimum of 30 years before being eligible for parole.

In responding to the verdict, Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn said that considering the complexities in the case and the way the evidence was marshalled by the prosecutors, she was satisfied that justice was served.

“As prosecuting attorneys, who must have fairness flowing through our professional DNA, given the circumstances of the legal areas covered, I believe justice has been served in the type of sentence and how quickly the investigators put the case together,” said Llewellyn, who praised the handling of the case by her team.

WITNESS COMMENDED

She also commended the witness, Leon Hines, the getaway driver in the murder who is serving a six-year sentence after pleading guilty to his part in the crime.

“I must praise Mr Hines for his cooperation with the investigation. His statement against Mr Bingham was so overwhelming that Mr Bingham had no choice but to plead guilty,” added Llewellyn.

The man who investigators had accused as the mastermind behind the killing, Javon Garwood – the stepson of the former banker – was freed in the Trelawny Circuit Court on July 13, after prosecutor Claudette Thompson admitted that her case had broken down as Bingham refused to testify.

In his summation, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, who presided over the case, instructed the foreman of the seven-man panel of jurors to return a verdict of not guilty, which meant Garwood was able to walk free.

According to reports, on January 31, 2021, Bingham walked into the Agape Christian Fellowship in Falmouth, Trelawny, and took a seat behind Lowe-Garwood.

As she got up to pray, he pulled a firearm from his waistband and fired four shots, hitting her in the head. He then fled the church and jumped into a waiting motor car, which sped away from the scene.

Lowe-Garwood was rushed to the nearby Falmouth Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Subsequent investigations led to the arrest and charge of her stepson, Bingham and Hines being arrested and charged.

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