A man who killed his estranged wife and stabbed two other another women who were “nagging” and “disrespecting” him, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.
42 year-old, Desmond Brooks, a Jamaican national pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm which occurred in July 2013.
The first attack took place at the home he shared with his ex-girlfriend. He attacked 46 year-old Joan Wade several times with a meat cleaver as she lay watching television on her sofa, with her young son looking on. She escaped onto the balcony where Brooks continued to stab her, cutting off two of her fingers and slicing her tongue. She was taken to hospital with severe injuries but managed to survive.
Half an hour later, he arrived at the home of his estranged wife, Keisha McKenzie, where he stabbed her to death, in front of her son, and 17 year-old sister. His sister-in-law, was also left with injuries after being stabbed while trying to protect her sister. A post-mortem examination revealed that Mckenzie had been stabbed 42 times.
Brooks then called his girlfriend to confess what he had done. He boarded a bus, and asked the bus driver to track down the nearest police car, telling him that he was the one they were searching for.
“I want to hand myself in. I killed my wife. I cannot take it anymore,” he told officers.
Brooks was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment for the murder of Keisha McKenzie. He was also sentence to 17 years imprisonment for his attacks on Joan Wade and on McKenzine’s sister.
“Over the period of about an hour on the evening of the 29th July 2013, you engaged in a stabbing spree properly said to be of extreme violence and ferocity. The catalogue of injuries inflicted is truly appalling,” Judge Stephen Kramer told him.
Brooks was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and after trying to commit suicide was transferred to Broadmoor Hospital.
He also has ten previous offences involving cannabis. Once his sentence is completed he will be deported back to Jamaica.
