Man gets life sentences for killing couple in St Catherine

A St Catherine man who was found guilty of the 2013 double murder of a Trinidadian man and his female Jamaican companion was sentenced to life imprisonment on each count in the St Catherine Circuit Court on Friday.

The sentences will run concurrently and the judge ruled that he must serve 29 years and four months before he becomes eligible to apply for parole.

Andre Knight, 31, was found guilty in July 2023 of the October 2013 murders of 30-year-old Trinidadian Keron Fraser and 19-year-old Tanashae Bennett whose bodies were found buried after they went missing.

In handing down sentence Justice Bertram Morrison told the accused that he has shown no remorse and that the issues of premeditation, violence and the prevalence of the crime must be considered.

He took time out to commend the police investigation in the matter.

"Had it not been for the keen observation of Detective Inspector Reuben Gunter, this crime would have gone unsolved," Justice Morrison said.

Facts are that in October 2013 Fraser and Bennettt were travelling in Spanish Town, St Catherine, when they were abducted.

About a week after they were reported missing, Knight was observed driving a car fitting the description of the couple's vehicle.

He was accosted by the police and bloodstains observed inside the vehicle. An investigation was launched, which resulted in his arrest and subsequent charge with two counts of murder.

-Rasbert Turner

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