By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
A MAN has had his hopes dashed for contesting his near 20-year sentence for aiding the person responsible for killing the teenage son of convicted drug traffickers Dwight and Keva Major four years ago.
Kevin Neely had appeared before the appellate court for a ruling on whether it would grant his request for more time to appeal his 18-year-sentence for the role he played in aiding the man responsible for killing 17-year-old Enrico Major in June 2014.
During a previous hearing, Neely told appellate Justices Stella Crane-Scott, Roy Jones, and Milton Evans he was an “innocent” man sitting in prison for some four years to date for a crime he had “no knowledge” of or “no dealings with”.
At the time, Neely said it is “hard” living as an inmate at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services, stressing he has been made to endure threats while incarcerated and, based on that, he contemplated giving up.
After hearing his matter called yesterday, Neely made his way to the prisoner’s dock, and after taking a seat, clasped his hands in a prayer-like fashion and lowered his head until his forehead rested on his hands, his eyes closed.
However, Justice Milton Evans ruled Neely’s proposed grounds of appeal had no prospects of success, and consequently, his extension of time application was dismissed and his conviction and sentence affirmed.
Major was killed weeks before his high school graduation.
He was walking south on Baillou Hill Road near SC McPherson Junior High School on June 1, 2014 when he was confronted and stabbed.
Dr Caryn Sands, a pathologist, testified during the trial that Major died of blood loss from the almost three-inch deep stab wound through his rib cage, which had severed an artery in his heart.
She said that in her experience with such wounds, a person receiving that kind of injury would lose blood quickly because of a faster heartbeat as a result of activity and/or anxiety.
The Crown’s case was that on the date in question, Neely and Dwayne Peter Lockhart chased Major and Ken Johnson down the street where Lockhart exited the vehicle being driven by Neely and gave further chase to Major behind a building.
It was there that Lockhart stabbed Major in the back which resulted in his death.
The evidence of Johnson, who managed to escape, was that when Lockhart exited the vehicle, Neely also left the vehicle and went to the area where Lockhart and Major went. Johnson also said he saw both Neely and Lockhart leave that area together and drive off in Neely’s vehicle.
Lockhart, prior to the commencement of his trial, pleaded guilty to murdering Major and is currently serving a 24-year sentence after a deduction of one third for his early plea.
Neely, meanwhile, denied any involvement in Major’s stabbing death.
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