By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
A MAN was brought to tears yesterday when a Supreme Court jury found him guilty of aiding the fatal stabbing of the teenage son of convicted drug traffickers Dwight and Keva Major.
Kervin Neely had testified that he had no involvement in the death of Enrico Major and that the only thing he did on the day he was killed was to give Dwayne Peter Lockhart a ride to a dead end corner near Lockhart’s home.
Lockhart earlier pleaded guilty to murdering Major and is currently serving a 24-year sentence.
He testified last Friday that Neely had no involvement in the fight he had with Major. The victim was stabbed during that struggle.
However, after a little more than an hour of deliberation, the jury returned a 12-0 guilty verdict on the charge of abetment to murder.
The 35-year-old accused hung his head at the announcement before leaning over to consult with his lawyer Glendon Rolle.
When asked by Justice Bernard Turner if there was any reason why a sentence should not be passed on him, his lawyer requested a probation report be prepared with respect to his client.
The judge granted the request and adjourned sentencing to May 21 before remanding the 35-year-old to prison until his next court appearance.
Mrs Major and other relatives looked on as a teary-eyed Neely was led away from the courtroom to await transport to prison.
Neely had denied the charge of abetment to murder. The 17-year-old victim was killed weeks before his high school graduation.
He was walking south on Baillou Hill Road near S C McPherson Junior High School when he was held up and stabbed in the back.
Princess Margaret Hospital pathologist Dr Caryn Sands testified during the trial that Major died of blood loss from the almost three-inch deep stab wound through his rib cage, which had severed an artery in his heart.
She said that in her experience with such wounds, a person receiving that kind of injury would lose blood quicker because of a faster heartbeat as a result of activity and/or anxiety.
As for the bruises to the head and other parts of the body, Dr Sands said the injuries could not be ruled out as blunt force trauma delivered by an object or by Major falling.
The latter, she said, was unlikely as the bruises were not to his arms.
The injury to the head was also not likely to be caused by a machete.
During the trial, the court heard that Neely denied having any involvement in the incident, but did watch the fight.
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