KINGSTON, Jamaica — The man who fatally shot the bodyguard of former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller over 11 years ago has been sentenced to 25 years for murder and 15 years for the offence of robbery with aggravation.

The sentences, which were handed down in the Home Circuit Court on May 31, 2019, are to run concurrently. The accused is to serve 15 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Justice Evan Brown in handing down the sentence considered the 12 years that the accused had spent on remand. Therefore, the date of eligibility commenced on October 4, 2007 which was the date he was placed into custody.  As such, the accused would have a remaining three years before being eligible for parole as at the date of sentencing, the Office ofthe Director of Public Prosecutions said in a statement.

The accused man, Veron Irving was on trial for the murder of Sergeant Egerton Brown, who was shot dead while visiting his girlfriend’s house on Sundown Crescent in St Andrew. He was convicted last year.

The seven-member jury on December 14 last year returned a unanimous guilty verdict against Irving on two counts of robbery with aggravation and one count of murder.

Facts presented to the court said about 7:00 pm Sergeant Brown and his girlfriend were sitting in his motor car when they were pounced upon by Irving and another man known only as “Tyson”.

The policeman and his girlfriend were ordered to exit the car before Irvin and his accomplice robbed Brown of the vehicle, cellular phone and cash.

During the robbery, a struggle ensued between Irving and Brown at which point the girlfriend ran from the scene.

The accused and his crony subsequently got hold of Brown’s licensed Glock 17 9mm pistol firearm and used it to shoot the sergeant.

They then left the scene in Brown’s motor car, which they later abandoned close by at a place called No Man’s Land on Bay Farm Road.

Sometime later the deceased’s girlfriend returned to the scene, saw Brown, and took him to the Kingston Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

During the trial, which was prosecuted by attorney Kathy-Ann Pyke and Crown Counsel Syleen O’Gilvie, one of the nineteen witnesses who were called by the Crown gave evidence that some time after Sergeant Brown’s murder, Irving admitted to shooting “Portia’s bodyguard”.

He further stated that a few days after Irving’s confession, he asked him to secure the same firearm that was taken from the murdered policeman.