Mavado’s Son Dantay Brooks Gets Life Sentence For Home Invasion Murder
Dantay Brooks, the 18-year-old son of Dancehall entertainer Mavado, and his co-accused Andre Hinds were sentenced to life in prison for murder, in the Home Circuit Court today.
Brooks must serve at least 22 years before being eligible for parole. He was also sentenced to 15 years for illegal possession of a firearm and sentenced to 15 years for arson.
Co-accused Andre Hinds will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least 17 years. Hinds was also sentenced to 15 years for illegal possession of a firearm and 15 years for arson.
The sentences, which were handed down by Justice Leighton Pusey, will be served concurrently.
Brooks’ lawyer, Peter Champagnie, has promised to appeal. “We have fertile ground on which to effect an appeal. We respect the judge’s decision, but we will be acting on the right of persons to challenge the ruling,” he told DancehallMag.
Brooks and Hinds were founded guilty earlier this year on the three charges stemming from a 2018 home invasion in Cassava Piece, St. Andrew that left Lorenzo Thomas dead.
At the time of his arrest on this murder charge, Brooks had been out on bail on another matter, and had already served 18 months on a previous offence.
Asked why Brooks had a more lengthy sentence than his co-accused, Champagne explained: “The court felt that the role of Brooks was more instrumental than Hinds. The record came back that Brooks was on bail on another matter at the time the offence was committed, and that was not the case with Hinds.”
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Brooks and Hinds were among five men who stormed into Thomas’ house and shot him. Thomas’ father, who was unharmed, provided crucial witness testimony which included the gang’s attempts to sever Thomas’ head and the use of gasoline to set the body and house on fire.
The murder allegedly occurred a few days after Mavado was reportedly shot at by a group of men in the Cassava Piece community. He was not hurt, but according to Loop, the singer reported the incident to the Constant Spring Police.
The Constant Spring cops later issued a wanted bulletin for Mavado after they swooped down on the entertainer’s Norbrook residence in search of him for questioning regarding an upsurge in violence in the community. Loop News reported that he had already left for the United States, the night before the raid on the residence.
Following the verdict in January, Mavado cried “corruption” and contended that his teenaged son and co-accused Andre Hinds were not given a fair trial. He addressed the testimony of Thomas’ father saying, “This man also went on the stand and said that these same police officers who carried out the arrest of my son & my family from my home are working for me and he feared his life.”
“The same man who claim he feared his life, still gave over 14 pages of statements? The inconsistencies inna this man statement only shed light on the corruption,” Mavado added.