An apologetic Trae Rico Leacock told the No. 4 Supreme Court that the death of his brother continues to torment him as sentencing proceedings began on Thursday.
“I am very sorry. At night, I can’t sleep. It hurts me,” he said. “I tell my mother that I’m sorry, and my father, and my sisters and brothers. It hurting me all now that I lose my brother.”
Leacock had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to unlawfully killing his brother, Stephon Leacock, on October 22, 2021.
During sentencing submissions, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC questioned what could have triggered such aggression between the siblings.
Noting that in one of his reports, the convicted man confessed to using cannabis once a month but denied usingit the day of the incident, the prosecutor queried, “What would make you so aggressive and violent that over sea cat you would stab your brother in his eye and cause his death?”
Seale recommended a sentence in the 10 to 15-year range, citing aggravating factors including the use of a weapon and Leacock’s decision to arm himself with a spear gun during the altercation—despite others attempting to quell the argument.
However, the DPP also acknowledged mitigating circumstances, agreeing with defence attorney Safiya Moore that the act was spontaneous, that Leacock had shown remorse, entered an early guilty plea, attempted to help his brother on the beach, and had documented, untreated psychiatric issues.
Moore urged the court to consider a more lenient sentence, pointing to her client’s troubled background.
Leacock had left school at age 13 and was recommended for therapy and psychological counselling—support he never received. She stressed that the act was not intentional, arguing he had meant to hit his brother with the back of the spear gun, not the pointed end.
She called for a sentence within the five to 10-year range, or at the lower end of the 10 to 15-year bracket and urged that any penalty include access to rehabilitative services such as anger management.
Leacock will be sentenced on July 18. (Jenique Belgrave)
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