The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A CONVICT appeared in the Court of Appeal yesterday to state his intention to appeal a life sentence handed down for the murder of his 18-year-old girlfriend, whose throat was slit before her body set on fire in bushes off a highway.

However, Michael Beckford indicated to Justices Anita Allen, Christopher Blackman and Abdulai Conteh that he could not afford an attorney.

Justice Allen said he would be appointed an attorney at the public’s expense and that he would return to court Januray 24, 2013, for a status hearing.

Beckford was convicted in April 2011 of the October 4, 2008, killing of Sheanda Newton.

Ms Newton’s body was discovered with burns and a gash in the neck in the bushes off Charles Saunders Highway.

Prosecutors alleged that Beckford killed the young woman because she had given him AIDS.

However, Beckford denied killing Ms Newton, knowing her, or having AIDS.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

However, following the Privy Council’s overturning of Maxo Tido’s death penalty and setting new rules about which cases warrant capital punishment, Beckford was sentenced to life imprisonment by Justice Vera Watkins.