NASSAU- A jealous man who killed his ex-girlfriend has lost a bid to reopen an appeal against his life sentence.
Angelo “Nasty” Brennen asked the Court of Appeal to revisit his sentence for the 2004 shooting murder of Ruthmae Pinder—13 years after he dropped a challenge to it.
According to Brennen, he had confused the meanings of the words abandon and adjourn.
But the Justices of Appeal didn’t believe him.
Delivering the ruling on behalf of the Court, President Sir Michael Barnett said, “That is not a credible explanation because the word “abandon” is significantly different from the word “adjournment”.
“We do not accept that he did not understand that he was abandoning his appeal.”
Other acts of violence before murder
Brennen gunned down Ms Pinder on October 29, 1994, a few months after she ended their toxic relationship.
He was bitter because he believed Ms Pinder was cheating.
The former gang member reacted with violence.
Brennen had stabbed Ms Pinder in the neck, three months before she called it quits.
Police arrested and charged Brennen.
However, she dropped the case.
On another occasion, Brennen shot at Ms Pinder’s house.
Once again, there was no trial because she withdrew the charge.
But Ms Pinder rejected Brennen’s attempts to win her back.
Unable to cope with the breakup, Brennen started to abuse cocaine and alcohol.
He started therapy for his addictions but quit shortly before the murder.
Brennen committed the vicious murder in front of Pinder’s two daughters.
Brennen met them standing at a bus stop on Farrington Road. After a short conversation, he shot Ms Pinder and the eldest child, Calvonya Grant, who tried to protect her mom.
Not the “worst of the worst”
A jury convicted Brennen of murder on November 3, 2005. At that time, all murderers were sentenced to hang. He received a 25-year sentence for attempted murder.
But the next year, the Privy Council ruled the mandatory death penalty illegal.
So, in 2007, Brennen was re-sentenced to life.
In 2008 he appealed the decision and so did the prosecution.
Brennen dropped his appeal and the Crown argued that Brennen deserved to hang.
However, the Court didn’t agree. The panel found that the sentencing judge’s finding that the murder did not fall into the category of the “worst of the worst” reasonable.
