The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE remaining two women convicted of murdering teenage mother Breanna Mackey over three years ago were sentenced to 28 years in prison by a Supreme Court judge yesterday.

Zaria Burrows, 24, and Dervinique Edwards, 24, were convicted last February after a 12-member jury found both guilty of the 19-year-old’s death in January 2018.

Yesterday, Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson sentenced both women to 28 years in prison minus the time they spent on remand awaiting sentencing, which included a year and nine months for Burrows and two years and ten months for Edwards.

They are the last of the six women who were convicted and subsequently sentenced with Mackey’s murder that fatal night. The incident was said to have transpired over a cell phone.

According to the facts read off by prosecutor Cephia Pinder-Moss during trial, sometime around 5.48pm on the date in question, the police control room was contacted about reports that a female was stabbed about the body in the Key West Street area off Cordeaux Avenue.

A crew of police officers was dispatched to investigate.

Upon their arrival, a female who was identified as the victim’s sister, Latisha Woodside, directed officers to a brown and white two-storey apartment complex on the eastern side of Key West Street.

On the porch, just in front of door number nine, officers discovered a semi-conscious female lying face down suffering from four stab wounds to the upper back and two stab wounds to the right arm.

The woman, later identified as Mackey, a mother of one, was subsequently taken to the Princess Margaret Hospital where she died around 8.28pm.

In April 2019, Justice Grant-Thompson sentenced the woman who did the actual stabbing, Thea Williams, to 25 years in prison in pursuance of a plea agreement her attorney reached with the Crown.

At the time of her sentencing, Williams was further ordered to undergo one year of counselling, inclusive of anger management lessons and another year of probation upon completion of her sentence.

During that same year, another woman whose name has been withheld because she was charged as a minor at the time, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in connection with Mackey’s murder.

She was also ordered to serve one year’s probation after completing her sentence.

Meanwhile, Davanya Lawes, who pleaded guilty to causing harm to Mackey, was sentenced to two years in prison as part of a plea deal.

On August 29, 2019, the woman who actually owned the phone at the heart of the controversy, and whose name has been withheld because she too was charged as a minor, was freed from prison.

At the time, Justice Grant-Thompson sentenced the woman to two years in prison as a part of a plea agreement she reached with the Crown.

The sentence was ordered to run from the date of her incarceration, January 25, 2018. However, because prison terms are not calculated on a full calendar year, her time expired on May 25, 2020.

Before sentencing Burrows and Edwards yesterday, Justice Grant-Thompson noted that despite the evidence given at the trial, both continued to maintain their innocence, which she said showed a “lack of remorse”.

She further reminded them of the roles they played that led to Mackey’s “unprovoked” death, insisting there can be no sympathy in the sentencing process.

“Bree too had a young child at the time of her death which someone else must now raise and tell this young lady who her mother was. Whatever contribution Breanna would have made to our society and to her family, the world will never know,” Justice Grant-Thompson told the court.

She told the pair that serious offences involving young people are becoming too common in today’s society, later calling the 2018 killing “senseless”.

Justice Grant-Thompson said such behaviour cannot be tolerated in today’s society and added that the sentences must send a strong message to the Bahamian public.

As a result, both Burrows and Edwards were sentenced to 28 years at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

“This honourable court considers this sentence to be extremely lenient as it is much lower than the penalty of 35 years as proposed in Larry Raymond Jones as guidance for the courts in cases of this nature and indeed as recommended by the Crown,” the Supreme Court judge added.

During yesterday’s hearing, Justice Grant-Thompson also noted that it was recommended that Burrows receive counselling after she attempted to commit suicide following her conviction and that management counselling was recommended for Edwards.

To this, she said: “I agree with both helpful suggestions.”