Four men to be sentenced for murder of household helper

Four St. Catherine men are to be sentenced on March 22 for the murder of household helper, Victoria Blake.

A jury by a majority verdict of 11 to one found Andrew Robinson, Kevin Reid, Sandus Simpson and Kevin Brown, all of Succaba Pen, near Old Harbour, St Catherine guilty.

The Crown led evidence that Blake was fatally shot inside her house about 11 o' clock on the night of July 11, 2006.

A relative of the deceased testified at the in camera trial in the Home Circuit Court that on the night of the incident, she heard an explosion and saw Blake who was lying on a bed, bleeding from an injury.

She said two relatives kicked open the door to their wooden house and ran into the room and hid.

The woman said she jumped on the bed on which Blake was lying, looked through an open space and saw the four accused who she knew before.

She said she saw the men fixing their guns before they fired shots into the house. 

The witness said she grabbed her six-month old baby and her six-year-old nephew and hid under the bed.

She said the firing lasted for about 25 minutes and she called the police who arrived sometime after. 

She said the police took her to the hospital as her baby was shot and injured.

The woman said as a result of the gunshot injury, the child is now a paraplegic.

The men, in their defense, said they were not in the area at the time of the incident.

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