A 20 year and one (1) month sentence was last week Friday meted out to 34 year old Farmer Kimron Abraham, of Munich in St. Andrew, who was indicted last April on a Non-Capital Murder charge in connection with the April 17, 2020 chopping death of a fellow villager Wilbert Alexis, at a time when the island was under curfew for the deadly coronavirus.
The sentence was handed down by Madam Justice Paula Gilford at the St. George’s No.1 High Court at the Grenada National Stadium to the murder convict, who has six (6) prior convictions – two (2) for the offenses of assault, and causing harm in 2015 and 2016.
According to the facts presented to the court on the Alexis murder case by State Prosecutor, and Senior Crown Counsel, Howard Pinnock, the incident took place after Alexis who is also a farmer accused the murder suspect of stealing his agricultural produce on more than one occasion and preventing him from enjoying the fruits of his labour.
It is reported that just after 8 p.m. on the day of the killing, Abraham approached the deceased in the vicinity of a popular village shop with a cutlass in hand, which he then used to hit him, inflicting several chop wounds before walking away from the scene, leaving Alexis to soak in his blood.
The court was told that he received a chop to the head, about five (5) chops to the neck, which almost severed it from his body, his feet also nearly chopped off near the ankle region.
The post-mortem indicated that the 50 year old deceased died as a result of hypovolemic shock, trauma and extreme blood loss.
In handing down the 20 year sentence on the convicted killer, who was indicted on the murder charge in September 2021, Justice Gilford told the court that not much is known about Abraham’s upbringing, as he refused to engage with the social workers who were tasked to produce his Social Inquiry report.
She noted that he has been in and out of prison for most of his adult life, lacked life skills, goals or family support, and felt that his attitude to the crime suggested that he was someone who had no regard for law and order, and lacked remorse.
The female judge indicated that the killing was “a deliberate, cold and calculated murder,” among other aggravating factors that were considered during the sentencing hearing.
Abraham was represented in court by Attorney-at-Law Jerry Edwin, who coerced him into apologising to the sister of the deceased and asked the court to mandate that his client take positive steps and undergo counseling during the custodial sentence.
The court agreed, and as part of his sentence, Abraham was ordered to undergo counseling for anger management, and conflict resolution while in prison, or face a defaulted additional year behind bars at the Richmond Hill Prison.
The deceased was described as a “very peaceful person” by an individual who knew him well but wished to remain anonymous in an interview with reporters after the sentence was handed down.”
Saying that “you can’t put a tab on life,” the individual, who accompanied Alexis’ grieving sister to last week Friday’s sentencing, stated that he was expecting a “stiffer” sentence, based on the gruesomeness of the crime, and shared his view on whether justice was indeed served.
“The question is – what is justice?” he asked.
He said that although the convicted man is incarcerated, he has life, and will be allowed to meet, and engage with his friends and family, while the sister of the deceased is left to grieve the violent killing.