The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was sentenced to 45 years in prison yesterday for the murder of his girlfriend who he stabbed 15 times and nearly beheaded.

However, Gibson Rafael, 29, of Charles Vincent Street had his sentence reduced to 41 years after Justice Indra Charles took into account the four years he had spent awaiting trial for the July 27, 2012 murder of Kidley St Brave.

The judge ordered that he undergo counselling for anger management.

In sentencing him, the judge cited the upsurge of violence against women in relationships.

Justice Charles told the convict that although he showed some remorse, he went overboard and did not restrain his temper when provoked on the day in question.

And while the case did not attract the death penalty, the judge added that the sentence would send a strong message to would-be offenders regarding society’s abhorrence to these types of crimes.

During the trial, Rafael testified that he and St Brave had recently got back together. He said on the day in question, he picked her up from her Quarry Mission Road home and they made love at his residence.

Raphael claimed that while in the bathroom, St Brave checked his phone and saw a text message from the mother of his son, which prompted her to attack him. When he slapped her back, he said she got a screwdriver and stabbed him before she went for a tile cutter.

He claimed a “trance” occurred after he took the tile cutter from her and did not remember what happened after that.

He did not report the incident to police until hours after her death.

A jury unanimously convicted Rafael of murder.

Rafael was defended by lawyer Calvin Seymour while Ms Darnell Dorsett prosecuted the case.