TRELAWNY, Jamaica— Twenty-eight-year-old murder convict Abejay “Terron” Powell will have to wait until March 23 to find out the length of his sentence.

Powell, who is being represented by attorney-at-law Shelly-Ann Hyman, was scheduled to be sentenced in the Western Regional Gun Court on Thursday, but the sentence was postponed because a social enquiry report ordered by the court was not ready. Additionally, Powell was not taken from the Trelawny police lock-up to the court for his sentencing.

As a result, presiding judge Justice Andrea Thomas postponed sentencing for just over one week and ordered Powell remanded.

Powell was convicted for the murder of his cousin, Otis Patrick, also known as Roonie, of Albion Mountain, St Mary, whose body was discovered in a shallow grave some six years ago.

The court was told that the then 31-year-old Patrick, a construction worker, was reported missing on March 25, just days after he arrived in Trelawny to work on a retaining wall at a premises owned by Powell.

Just over two months later, on May 30, investigations led the police to Powell’s home, where they discovered Patrick’s decomposed body in a shallow grave at the back of the yard.

The police reported that a number of large stones and marl were packed into the hole on top of the body, and a plot of corn was planted on top of the grave and in the surrounding area.

Powell was later charged with another resident of the house, 28-year-old Oniel Demitrus, but the co-accused escaped from the Falmouth police-lock up and is now on the run.