Twenty-one year-old Harold Berbick was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment for the “vicious” 2006 murder of his famous boxing champion uncle, Trevor Berbick, while his 19-year-old accomplice was ordered to spend the next 14 years behind bars at hard labour.

Harold Berbick, a computer technician, was ordered by Justice Christine McDonald in the Home Circuit Court to serve 20 years of his life sentence before being considered for parole.

He was found guilty of murder in the Portland Circuit Court last December and his accomplice, Kenton Gordon, a labourer, was found guilty of manslaughter in the October 2006 killing of the boxer who became the first Jamaican to hold a world heavyweight title when he scored a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Pinklon Thomas in March 1986 to lift the World Boxing Council (WBC) belt.

In December, the convicts’ attorneys had indicated their intention to appeal the verdict.

Trevor Berbick was found dead near his gate in Norwich, Portland, two miles west of Port Antonio, on the morning of October 28, 2006. He had several large wounds to the back of his head that were inflicted with a piece of pipe and a crow bar.

During the trial last December, Harold Berbick said that he hit Trevor Berbick after the boxer threw two stones at him. Gordon said that he never intended to kill Berbick.

Both men’s attorneys yesterday begged Justice McDonald to be lenient with their clients, who had never before the incident ran afoul of the law.

Attorney Keith Bishop urged the court to be lenient with Gordon, who has constantly expressed sorrow over the incident.

Harold Berbick, who was represented by attorney Carl McDonald, was lashed by Justice McDonald for his apparent lack of remorse for what she described as his “cruel, vicious and calculated act”.

A report from Gwendolyn Facey, the mother of Harold Berbick, painted a picture of a violent and abusive Trevor Berbick who at times physically assaulted Harold and herself and threatened them with death.

The report, which was read in court, also accused Trevor Berbick, who rose to prominence by becoming the last boxer to fight boxing legend Muhammad Ali and beating him in 1981, of stealing a computer from Harold.