Man Sentenced to 35 Years for Murder, Will Serve 16 and a Half Years: Case Details Revealed

A High Court judge sentenced Peter O’Donald Corbin to 35 years for the June 9, 2020 murder of Sandra-Ann Burrowes. But the 64-year-old carpenter will only have 16 and a half years more behind bars.

That was the final sentence after Justice Randall Worrell applied deductions for mitigating factors, the time Corbin spent on remand and his early guilty plea.

Corbin, of Marl Hole Gap, Halls Road, St Michael, had pleaded guilty to non-capital murder.

He also confessed to using a firearm without a valid licence on October 22, 2019. The judge gave him a starting sentence of 15 years for that offence, which was reduced to just over three years after deductions were applied.

The sentences are to run concurrently.

Principal State Counsel Oliver Thomas and State Counsel Dr Zoe King represented the State, while Senior Counsel Arthur Holder represented Corbin.

The court had heard that on October 22, 2019, while driving along Clarke’s Road, Sandra-Ann Burrowes’ brother, Peter Burrowes, heard a loud noise as he approached a house on a left-hand bend. He stopped, got out, and saw three pieces of wood of various sizes protruding from the house’s side door and resting against the left side of his car. The vehicle’s paintwork was damaged.

When Peter called at the house, Corbin came outside and began arguing. Peter then left and walked to his brother’s nearby home, where he contacted the police and his insurance company. Shortly after, his sister arrived at the scene, and an argument ensued between her and Corbin.

After the insurance agent left, Peter retrieved a metal pipe from his vehicle and confronted Corbin, accusing him of lying about how the incident had occurred. Corbin then went inside the house he was working on while the siblings walked towards their mother’s home, which is also in the area.

When they got a few feet away from the house, Peter looked back and saw Corbin approaching them with a gun. Corbin fired, hitting Sandra in her lower back, and she collapsed. Her brother took her to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in his vehicle. She passed away in June the following year.

Giving his account to the police, Corbin claimed that Peter attacked him with a metal pipe and struck him about his body. He said he armed himself with a hammer, after which Peter pulled a gun from his waist. Corbin claimed they struggled for the weapon, and after he gained control of it, the siblings ran away. However, Sandra-Ann stopped, and in anger, Corbin raised his arm, shouted at her that their actions were wrong, and fired the gun.