The legal team of Dante Brooks, the teenage son of Jamaican international entertainer Mavado, plans to appeal the teenager’s murder conviction which was handed down today.

Asked if the defence planned to appeal the verdict, attorney-at-law Peter Champagnie replied with an emphatic: “absolutely!”.

Brooks, 18, was also found guilty of illegal possession of firearm and arson in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston today. His co-accused, Andre Hinds, was also found guilty.

The two were arrested and charged in connection with the grisly killing of Lorenzo Thomas in the St Andrew community of Cassava Piece on June 5, 2018.

Prosecutors led with evidence that Brooks and Hinds were among five men who entered the house and shot Thomas before pushing his father into another room. Thomas’ killers attempted to sever his head, but aborted that plan because the machete was too dull.

They then doused the house and body with gasoline before torching them.

Prosecutors relied on the eyewitness testimony of Thomas’ father, who indicated that he knew his son’s killers from the community.