TWO 16-year-olds, who admitted to killing a 53-year-old cab driver in Spanish Town for money to buy sneakers and attend a dance, were yesterday sentenced to two years in a juvenile correctional centre.

The teens were charged with murder for the August 6 shooting death of Silbourne Kirkpatrick Huntley of Bridgeport in Portmore, St Catherine, but pleaded guilty last month to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
The court was told that the teens, along with another youth, took Huntley's taxi around 3:00 pm in Spanish Town on the day in question. When the car reached the vicinity of Central Village, a shot was heard and the youths were seen running from the vehicle. One teen was immediately held, leading to the arrest of the other on August 10. The third youth is still at large.

The teens confessed to the police that their intention was to rob the victim, when the weapon accidentally went off, shooting Huntley in the chest.
One of the teens also admitted to robbing taxi operators in Spanish Town, St Catherine, on a regular basis. He also told the police that he had robbed $11,000 on one occasion.

The teens' attorneys pleaded before Justice Patrick Brooks at the Home Circuit Court, saying their clients had never gotten into trouble before and that "there can be no rehabilitation [for them] in prison, which is like a brothel for homosexuals".

In handing down the sentence, Brooks said that he would not give the teens prison sentences as they would be "contaminated by older men in prison because of their age and size".

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