The Darren Berry murder case;
Bass, Matthew sentencing deferred
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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Lumumba Matthew (L) and Justin Bass (R)
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE sentencing hearing for the two-man team convicted of committing the murder of Darren Berry and the attempted murder of his brother Dion Berry was deferred to a later date.
Lumumba Matthew and Justin Bass, both of Lower Monkey Hill, St. Peters Parish were scheduled to appear before the Basseterre High Court where they were to have their sentencing hearing on Monday, September 22.
SKNVibes was reliably informed that the hearing has been postponed until sometime in October, 2008 at which point mitigating pleas would be heard from the men’s defence counsels.
Other information reaching this media house suggests that one of the lawyers of the convicted men was off island which led to the sentencing being deferred.
The young men could face the death penalty, which is the maximum sentence for such an offence.
During the May 2008 Criminal Assizes, it took a jury an approximate two hours to convict the men of the January 12, 2007 offences. ~~Adz:Right~~
Matthew and Bass were accused of shooting at the brothers who were travelling in a black jeep at Bayfords en route to their farm. During the trial, Dion testified that while they were travelling, Matthew approached the vehicle from the right and opened fire while Bass did the same from the left.
Both were seriously injured during the onslaught and while Dion survived, his younger brother did not. Dion also told the court that he got a clear look at his attackers during the onslaught.
The men are expected to return to court on October 6, when sentenced should be passed.
