Bahamas: Man given 20-year prison sentence over fatal stabbing on Acklins
A man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for a fatal stabbing in Mason’s Bay, Acklins.
Marvin Edgecombe, 47, was acquitted of murder but unanimously convicted of manslaughter in the June 2017 death of David Hanna.
Prosecutors allege that a series of altercations between the men escalated to the fatal stabbing.
According to the evidence led at a trial before Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson, on June 3, 2017, Hanna, a fisherman, came to a restaurant and bar in Spring Point, Acklins, where Edgecombe was a customer to sell his catch.
While negotiating the sale, Edgecombe walked over to the table and interrupted Hanna, who asked to be left alone.
Edgecombe reportedly slapped Hanna in the chest and returned to his seat. But he returned a short time later and punched Hanna in the face.
That’s when Hanna “lost his cool” and broke a 40-ounce bottle of gin over Edgecombe’s head.
However, the dispute didn’t end there. After Hanna left the bar, he went to a home-based restaurant in Mason’s Bay for a hamburger.
Edgecombe followed Hanna there and demanded that the owners send him outside. He reportedly shouted, “Y’all better let David out this house”, before trying to force his way inside.
Edgecombe waited for Hanna and stabbed him when he went to his vehicle.
Hanna received stab wounds to his back and defensive injuries to his forearm.
He didn’t die immediately and told police who had stabbed him.
Hanna was treated at the island’s clinic released, and died at home. A pathologist found that the injuries that Hanna had sustained caused his death.
The prosecutor, Cephia Pinder-Moss, had asked the court to impose a sentence of 25 years imprisonment for the “egregious and callous crime”.
On the other hand, defence lawyer Murrio Ducille had asked for a suspended sentence.
Lucille argued that when Hanna left the clinic, he was “walking and talking”, and it is unknown “whether the wounds were exacerbated”.
Ducille said the doctor would not have released Hanna if he were in danger.
In sentencing, Grant-Thompson said that at 47-years-old Edgecombe should have exercised restraint.
She said, “I found this offence disgusting, and the only way I can express that is in the sentence I pass. I seek to protect society from this type of behaviour.”
The sentence takes effect from September 15, 2021, the date of conviction.
Grant-Thompson thanked the council for their submissions and her legal research assistant Kevin Armbrister.
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