A real 'cow bawling' echoed through the Supreme Court building, last Friday, from a teenager who was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for the fatal stabbing of another teen.

Adrian 'Sanchez' Nicholson, 18, of Newlands, St Catherine, wept uncontrollably as policemen escorted him from the courtroom after he was sentenced.

Nicholson, who was on bail pending sentence, believed that since he had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was on bail awaiting his sentence, he would be given a non-custodial sentence.

Persons who heard Nicholson crying stopped to find out the reason.

They were informed that Supreme Court Judge Gloria Smith had just sentenced Nicholson to seven years' imprisonment for manslaughter arising from the death of Kymani Hill, 13, of Power Avenue, Newlands. Nicholson was charged with murder but he pleaded guilty to the lesser offence.

stone throwing

Hill was fatally stabbed on November 30, 2006, after he threw a stone on a zinc fence near to a games shop in Newlands. Nicholson, who was in the shop, came out to enquire who threw the stone and a dispute developed between them.

After Nicholson stabbed Hill, he was chased, beaten and stabbed by residents and had to be taken to hospital.

The judge said despite pleas from attorney-at-law Jean Barnes for Nicholson to be given a non-custodial sentence, she had to send him to prison because "life was too precious and people must respect the sanctity of life".

The court was told that after Hill threw the stone, people in the community were "egging on" the accused and the Hill to fight.

The judge said that instead of crying for peace, the adults were egging on the violence. She said too many lives were being lost, especially young lives because of that type of behaviour from adults.

Nicholson's lawyer, in making a mitigation plea, said that Nicholson should be given a non-custodial sentence because it was the action of the adults which brought about "this sordid state of affair".