Guilty of murdering a friend

It took a jury less than four hours to agree that George Thomas is guilty of murdering Clinton Mannix who was gunned down eight-and-a-half years ago.
Thomas was found guilty yesterday afternoon and could be jailed for life, if he gets the maximum prison sentence on April 20. He broke down in tears when he heard that the decision of the panel of 12 was unanimous.
Mannix was gunned down sometime between the 5th and 6th November 2009 by Thomas and two other friends, Andre Nibbs and Joel Seraphine.
The three men took Mannix to a building in St. John’s where they questioned him about a cocaine deal that went wrong.
Doing as he was told, Nibbs brought guns to the scene. Mannix’s hands were bound before he was taken to Dove Trail, an isolated area in Yeptons.
While there, Nibbs was told to shoot Mannix, his 37-year-old friend. When he refused, the weapon was taken from him and used to execute Mannix.
His bullet-riddled body was found on the trail, but it took some time before his body was identified.
Some time later, Thomas was charged with murder along with Seraphine and Nibbs.
Seraphine threw in the towel last week as the trial progressed and the jury heard evidence about who was there, who had guns and why Mannix was killed.
Four years ago, Nibbs pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years. He’s already out of prison because the time he spent on remand was counted as part of the sentence.
Justice Keith Thom is set to sentence Thomas on April 20 after he receives a Social Inquiry Report from the Probation Department.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Armstrong and Crown Counsel Shannon Jones-Gittens prosecuted the case, while Lawrence Daniel represented Thomas.