Judge ‘Fed-up’…
Sentences Teen to 37 Years in Prison
~~Adz:Left~~St. Thomas, USVI - Judge Brenda Hollar handed down a 37-year sentence to a teen on Monday leaving two mothers in tears inside her courtroom.
In a touching scene, the mother of the victim, 19-year-old Pauliano Remy and Virginia Bethrant, mother of his killer embraced each other following the sentencing.
Akeem Corraspe had pled guilty to shooting Remy to death last June as he sat in a car in Hospital Ground, Charlotte Amalie. Corraspe was 18 at the time and had been arrested multiple times before for violent crimes before becoming an adult.
Judge Hollar described his criminal past as a “one man crime spree”.
Corraspe was arrested just days after Remy’s shooting when police combed the area for possible gunmen in a shootout that was reportedly linked to the murder. Corraspe was reportedly seen disposing of a weapon which when recovered turned out to be an assault weapon akin to an M16. He was also identified by witnesses as being Remy’s shooter.
While in custody for Remy’s murder and the gun charge, Corraspe was fingered for two armed robberies that occurred last year when an Anna’s Retreat man was twice robbed at gunpoint and his life threatened for reporting the first incident.
Attorneys for Corraspe managed to arrange a deal for the young man, merging the two robberies for a guilty plea. He received a ten year sentence for one count of third-degree robbery with 3 years being suspended.
He did not fare as well on the charge of second degree murder as Judge Hollar sentenced him to 30 years for Remy’s slaying. She further ordered that the sentences run consecutively.
Though he ‘copped’ to the murder, Corraspe did not divulge the motive for the killing.
His mother asked for Shayna Martin’s (Remy’s mother) forgiveness, relating to the woman’s pain and suffering, having lost her own son Dennis Corraspe to a broad daylight shooting. That murder was never solved.
US Virgin Islands News