A St James man who fatally shot his girlfriend who was six months pregnant with twins is to spend 20 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

Michael Riley, 24, also called "Tatty", of Copperwood , St James, had denied shooting 22-year-old hairdresser Aisha Kerr of Copperwood on January 11, 2009.

A jury retired and found him guilty of the murder charge.

Senior Puisne judge Gloria Smith sentenced Riley to life imprisonment and ordered that he should serve 20 years before he is eligible for parole. Evidence was given at the trial in the St James Circuit Court that about 3 pm on January 11, 2009, Kerr was at her mother's house at Copperwood. Riley went into the house and a relative of the deceased told him to get out.

explosion

Riley left and returned shortly after with a gun and began talking to Kerr. A witness said she heard Kerr shouting "Tatty, Tatty, come out you going to go to prison for it." Shortly after an explosion was heard and Kerr was seen lying on her back, bleeding from the left eye.

Riley then ran away from the house and jumped over a fence. She was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

A witness testified that at the time of the incident Kerr and Riley were living together for four years and had frequent quarrels.

Riley denied shooting Kerr and said he was working at the home of a relative of the deceased when he heard she was shot.

Riley was convicted on July 31, 2008 of illegal possession of ammunition and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. The sentence was suspended for two years which meant that if Riley was convicted of any offence within two years he would have to serve the three-year prison sentence.