Christmas brown for Shabba

Enos “Shabba” Browne is now into his fourth day of a nine-year prison sentence, after pleading guilty to manslaughter.{{more}}

Justice Gertel Thom handed down the sentence to the 34-year-old minibus conductor of Lowmans Windward on Monday at the High Court.

Browne was indicted for the murder of his brother Junior “Sellout” Browne on May 27 last year, following an altercation between both men. The charge was, however, reduced after Browne pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the commencement of his trial on November 6, 2007.

Browne (Junior) died as a result of stab wounds about his body.

The facts in the matter revealed that there was a longstanding history of violence between the brothers, which ended in a loss of life.

Mitigating on Browne’s behalf, lawyer Nicole Sylvester said that as a child, Browne was not given the opportunity to access a proper education. She added that he came from an unstable background plagued with violence, unhappiness and anger.

The probation report read by probation officer Camille McIntosh showed that Browne was a regular consumer of alcohol and had a longstanding violent relationship over the past two decades with his brother. It also noted that Browne had 11 previous convictions relating to theft and wounding. In her interview with Browne, she said that he intimated to her that he did not want to kill his brother and was apologetic about causing his death. McIntosh, however, in her report, stated that reality of Browne being a good prospect for rehabilitation and reform seemed remote.

In delivering her judgment, Justice Thom said that there were aggravating factors surrounding the incident. She said that it was the defendant who had equipped himself with a knife, which ended up causing the death of his brother. The judge also took into consideration the violent history between Enos and his brother and that he was a regular consumer of alcohol. However, Thom was of the opinion that Browne was a good candidate for rehabilitation, if provided with professional help. “Now that you are in an environment where you can’t consume alcohol, you will be well behaved,” the Judge said.

Lawyer Carl Williams appeared for the crown in the matter. (KW)