Mason guilty of manslaughter in priest's death

TWENTY-six-year-old mason, Prince Vale, was yesterday found guilty of the 2006 stabbing death of Anglican priest Father Richard Johnson.

Following more than three hours of deliberation, the jurors returned a verdict of not guilty to murder but guilty on the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Vale, a resident of Stony Hill, St Andrew, is to be sentenced on February 4.

Vale has been on trial in the Home Circuit Court since last week for the November 12, 2006 murder at Johnson's home at the St Jude's Anglican Church rectory in Stony Hill.
He said in an unsworn statement, that he did not intend to kill the priest, but that he was only protecting himself from an attempt by Johnson to sodomise him.

Following the verdict, Vale, who has been a friend of Johnson, knelt down in the dock as he wept and begged for mercy.

"Your honour, mi a beg you, send mi go somewhere where mi can go back in a society. Please mi a beg you," Vale beseeched before being hushed by his attorney, Melrose Reid.