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Valerie Neita-Robertson, Ninjaman's attorney
"Thumbs up your honour!" was the response from dancehall entertainer Desmond 'Ninjaman' Ballentine after Justice Martin Gayle on Monday afternoon sentenced him to life imprisonment for the 2009 murder of 20 year old Ricardo Johnson.
Ninjaman's co-accused, his son Jahneil as well as Dennis Clayton, were also handed life sentences and will have to serve 15 years before being eligible for parole.
Ninjaman is to serve 25 years before being eligible for parole.
He was given 20 years for shooting.
Ninjaman's attorney, Valerie Neita-Robertson, told journalists outside the Home Circuit Court that the entertainer was sentenced based on his past.
"From 1999 to 2018 you can't rehabilitate yourself? Why you looking at the past...move beyond the past to who you really are because that's what life is about. You don't always do the right thing when you are young and it is commendable that he has corrected his past," he asserted.
On his reaction to the sentence, Mrs Neita-Robertson said: "When I went to see him after the verdict, he said to me, 'Miss Neita, God know why him sending me down by Tower Street. Me a continue me work with the man them down deh who a fire gun; me nah give up.'"
Ninjaman and his co-accused were found guilty on November 20 by a seven-member jury.
According to police reports, the three were among several men who entered a yard on Mall Road in Olympic Gardens on March 16, 2009.
It was reported that they fired shots at a man who fled the property.
But Mr. Johnson, who was also in the yard, was fatally shot.
Ninjaman's legal team has said they will be appealing the verdict.
"A verdict can be challenged and we will be doing that...and we believe in Ninja's innocence. Those out there who don't believe, matter for them; I believe," Neita-Robertson declared.
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