BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AT the Old Bailey yesterday (Dec. 3), Kittitian Bentley ‘Danny’ Huggins was given a 20-year minimum prison sentence for hacking his wife to death.
Huggins’ sentencing comes approximately one year after his wife’s unfortunate demise.
She was known as Desirie Thomas and hailed from the Caribbean.
The 35-year-old was found in a pool of blood in the Woolwich, south-east London home she shared with her husband.
And according to evidence brought out in court, she was stabbed 10 times in the face and neck and left for dead on December 23, 2011.
The prosecution charged that Huggins was the perpetrator, committing the dastardly act because he faced the possibility of being homeless or deported had his wife gone through with her plans for divorce.
Huggins however claimed that he was beaten at the hands of his wife and had even – according to reports – filed a complaint with the police just weeks before he murdered his wife.
Nonetheless, in September 2012 the jury which sat on the case at the Old Bailey found unanimously that Huggins was guilty of murdering Thomas and sentence was set for a later date.
According to a BBC report, Huggins was sentenced to “at least 20 years” by trial Judge Anthony Morris.
The BBC quoted Judge Morris as saying, "This was a savage and sustained attack. You had been violent to your wife before. You convinced yourself that you were a slave or second class citizen, and that your wife would receive better treatment from the courts."
And it quotes the prosecutor, Zoe Johnson, QC, as saying, “The defendant is a self-serving person who believes the world owes him a living and believes women should be subservient to his needs."
Huggins and Thomas reportedly exchanged vows approximately 22 months before her murder and the union produced one [girl] child.
