A St Ann man wept openly and shook in the dock when a judge told him he would go to prison for life for his part in murdering a couple in Discovery Bay.
Twenty-five-year-old Steve Stewart will be eligible for parole after serving 17 years in prison.
Stewart pleaded guilty on Tuesday morning, February 21 to two counts of murder stemming from the August 23, 2011 killing of 53-year-old Norma-Lyn Hall, a senior lecturer and her husband, Neville Hall, 57, a trucker contracted to Noranda Bauxite.
Based on a post-mortem report, Mrs Hall died from strangulation, while her husband died from blunt force injury to the head.
At Stewart’s sentence hearing it was stated that another accused man, Jowayne Alexander influenced Stewart to participate in a robbery of the couple’s Queen Crescent home, near the Queen Highway in Runaway Bay, St Ann.
Their bodies were found the following day in bushes in Lake Side, some miles away from where they lived.
Based on a post-mortem report, Mrs Hall died from strangulation, while her husband died from blunt force injury to the head.
In the meantime, his co-accused Jowayne Alexander is to stand trial today (February 22) as he pleaded not guilty earlier yesterday morning to two counts of murder. Stewart has agreed to serve as a prosecution witness against Alexander.
See The Times next week for full details.
