Ex-cop handed life sentence for brutally stabbing reputed wife to death

Despite his desperate pleas to High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon for leniency and mercy, 38-year-old Jermaine Bristol, the ex-Policeman who admitted to brutally stabbing his reputed wife to death, was handed a life sentence on Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier this month, the Freeman Street, East La Penitence, Georgetown man appeared before Justice Kissoon and pleaded guilty to a charge for the capital offence of murder. He confessed to murdering Shanece Lawrence, 24, on August 22, 2018.

According to reports, Lawrence died after she was stabbed multiple times with a knife by Bristol, who after committing the act, surrendered at the Brickdam Police Station.

The couple had been involved for about seven years and started living together in June of 2018. Previous reports stated that Lawrence was physically abused by her partner.

Lawrence had reported her partner’s abusive tendencies to the Police after they got into an altercation at a hotel where he allegedly threw away her personal belongings.

At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Bristol, besides begging Justice Kissoon to be lenient, also asked the dead woman’s family for forgiveness for the pain he has caused them.

He claimed that he loved his partner very much and never intended to cause her death in such a gruesome way. “I have changed my ways and my attitude. I didn’t mean to do such a thing,” said the convict as he burst into tears.

Bristol further claimed that his actions have left him “heartbroken” since he and his partner shared a loving relationship, and he was planning on marrying her.

According to the convict, he came home from work on the day in question after feeling unwell and caught Lawrence in their home with another man in a “compromising position”. This, he said, angered him and led to him attacking her with a knife.

Meanwhile, Lawrence’s mother, father and brother, through separate victim impact statements, expressed that ever since the death of their loved one, their family has not been the same. They called on the court to impose the maximum sentence on her killer.

For his part, Justice Kissoon strongly condemned the brutal murder of the woman. In so doing, he alluded to the frequent instances of women being murdered at the hands of their intimate partners.

He made it clear that the court would do its part in keeping society safe by ensuring that perpetrators of such crimes are punished condignly.

The Judge, among other things, described Lawrence’s murder as “abominable” before he imposed a life sentence on Bristol, who does not become eligible for parole before 35 years.

In 2016, Bristol was found guilty on a charge of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and was sentenced to 60 months in prison by a Magistrate.