Convict gets five years for stabbing “best friend”

A year and a half after he admitted to stabbing his “best friend,” in the abdomen, Ceylon Howe learnt he will be going to Her Majesty’s Prison for five years.
Justice Keith Thom sentenced the man to the prison term and the time he has spent on remand since December 12, 2015, will be deducted.
Howe, who apologized to Zakeef Dyre in an unsworn statement, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent.
The virtual complainant told the High Court yesterday he was angry because he “could have died,” and he was still affected by the 2.5 cm stab he sustained when the convict jabbed a six-inch blade in the left side of his abdomen. Dyre told the judge the wound still stings and burns when he lifts anything heavy.
In pleading for leniency for his client, Sherfield Bowen said the stabbing was not premeditated and was in retaliation to Dyre punching Howe in the face.
Bowen who admitted Howe has been in the care and assessment of the Probation Department since before she was 12 years old, was a troubled child who turned his life around when his family structure changed and he is now more involved with chores at home.
The probation report noted that the now 26-year-old showed good prospects of rehabilitation.
Howe avoided the maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, and was to be sentenced to nine years, but received a discount of three years for his guilty plea and another year off for being remorseful and turning his life around.
On the afternoon of the offence, the virtual complainant went to a shop in Potters to visit a friend who worked there, when he met a group of young men, including the accused, on the step and he proceeded to ask for $5 and Drye told Howe he was always begging him for $5.
Howe rushed towards Dyre who punched him knocking him off the step. When the convict got back on his feet he rushed to the virtual complainant with a knife in his hand and stabbed the victim.
The shopkeeper and her husband who tried to intervene to prevent the incident rushed the injured man to hospital, adding pressure to the wound to suppress the bleeding.
Dyre’s injury went through the muscle, requiring surgery and he was hospitalized for five days.