Dantay Brooks, the 18-year-old son of entertainer Mavado, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston yesterday.

Brooks will have to serve 22 years before he is eligible for parole.

He was sentenced to 15 years on the illegal possession of firearm charge and 15 years on the arson charge. All charges will be served concurrently.

Brooks’s co-accused, Andre Hinds, was also sentenced to life imprisonment. He, however, will have to serve 17 years before he is eligible for parole. He was also sentenced to 15 years on the illegal possession of firearm charge and 15 years on the arson charge.

Brooks’s lawyer, Peter Champagnie, promised to appeal.

“We have fertile ground on which to effect an appeal. We respect the judge’s decision, but we will be acting on the right of persons to challenge the ruling,” said Champagnie.

Brooks and his co-accused Andre Hinds were found guilty on January 27 of the 2018 murder of Lorenzo Thomas in the St Andrew community of Cassava Piece, illegal possession of firearm, and arson.

At the time of his arrest on this murder charge, Brooks had been out on bail on another matter, and had already served 18 months on a previous offence. Asked why Brooks had a more lengthy sentence than his co-accused, Champagne explained:

“The court felt that the role of Brooks was more instrumental than Hinds. The record came back that Brooks was on bail on another matter at the time the offence was committed, and that was not the case with Hinds.”