HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) — A High Court judge in Bermuda has sentenced a man to 35 years in jail for the 2018 fatal shooting of another outside a cricket club.

Taaj Muhammad was given a life sentence on Friday for what prosecutors called the “public execution” of Ronniko Burchall and ordered him to serve at least 25 years for the murder before becoming eligible for parole.

Justice Juan Wolffe also ordered Muhammad to serve a consecutive 10-year sentence for using an illegal firearm to commit the murder.

The judge said the senseless murder had left Burchall’s family devastated and contributed to a wave of gun violence that has rocked the community.

A six-man, five-woman jury found Muhammad guilty by a unanimous verdict.

The court heard earlier that Burchall, 30, was shot in the head at close range as he left a Christmas party at St David’s Cricket Club on December 29, 2018. He was rushed to hospital but died of his injuries the next day.

“There is no way to overstate that this was a heinous crime committed at point-blank range. Equally disturbing is not only the effect the act has had on the deceased, but on the family members,” Justice Wolffe said.

The court heard comments from Burchall’s family, who said they were still heartbroken by the loss of the father of two.

A former girlfriend of Muhammad, who was not named because of legal reasons, told the court that Muhammad confessed that he had carried out the shooting months after the murder.

The witness said she did not tell the police about the confession until July 2020 because she feared for her life. She identified Muhammad as the gunman in closed-circuit television footage from the cricket club based on a distinctive “limp”.

Attorney Charles Richardson, who represented Muhammad during the trial, said an appeal against the conviction had already been launched.