A grieving mother has told the gunman who murdered her son ‘I forgive you’.

However, convicted killer Julian Washington continued to protest his innocence, even as he was jailed for life at Supreme Court yesterday.

Washington stormed into a birthday party at a Glebe Road home and gunned down Stefan Burgess and tried to kill Devana Bremar. The murderer will spend a minimum of 30 years behind bars before he can be considered for parole.

Andrea Burgess revealed that she even prayed for Washington, who shot her son twice in the chest on January 8, 2012. He was 24 years-old.

“You know the amazing thing is I forgive you,” Ms Burgess said in her victim impact statement. “It was not easy. It took much prayer and understanding. But, my Word says in order to be forgiven for my sins I have to forgive others.

“It sorrows me to see a young man get caught up in such a dark world. For someone to be able to take another’s life, to them life must have no value.

“Sitting through this case and hearing all the evidence has left me without doubt that justice has been served.”

Ms Burgess described her son, Stefan, as a ‘beautiful person’ and an ‘extraordinary father’.

Addressing Washington she added: “Stefan touched many lives, you can never take that away.

“You have taken his life but his spirit will live on.”

During his trial, Washington denied any involvement in the shooting, and yesterday he continued to profess his innocence.

When asked if there was anything he wanted to say before sentence was passed he spoke for 10 minutes claiming he had been targeted by police.

He turned to Mr Burgess’s family in the public gallery and said: “I’m sorry for the loss of your son and brother, but I am not the one responsible.

“I did not take his life.”

Victim impact statements were also provided and read out in court by Mr Burgess’s sister, Ebonie, and his girlfriend, Latika Goins, on behalf of their young daughter, Ryann.

Mr Burgess’ brother, Ryan, died in a bike crash in February, 2006 on Parsons Road, Devonshire.

“It is a daily battle trying to cope with the loss of my last sibling,” Ebonie Burgess said. “It hurts to lose one sibling so this was especially hard.

“It breaks my heart to know we can never again celebrate our accomplishments together.

“It hurts me to the core that we can never create new memories.”

She added: “I wake up every day fighting tears when I realise he has gone but I have strength in the thoughts of the memories we did create.

“Julian Washington can never kill the memories.”

Meanwhile, Ms Goins revealed that Stefan Burgess’ death had had profound effects on her daughter, who was four at the time of the murder.

“Father’s Day is emotional for her,” she said. “For me the emotion seems more than I could bear at first. I did not eat and sleep. I kept asking ‘why?’.

“Over the years I would not say it has got easier, but we have learned to live without his presence.

“Stefan is truly missed as a father and best friend.”

The court heard yesterday that Washington had lodged an appeal against his conviction.

He had previously been found guilty by a jury of the premeditated murder of Mr Burgess, as well as the attempted murder of Mr Bremar, using a firearm to commit an indictable offence and handling ammunition in connection to the 2012 shooting.

Washington himself is no stranger to the courts.

In 2011, he and another man pleaded guilty to robbing a teenage girl of her motorcycle, allegedly striking her in the process.

He was subsequently sentenced to 15 months in prison but the magistrate noted the seven months they had already served and suspended the remainder of the sentences.

He was also once the victim of a firearms offence.

On August 9, 2010, Washington was shot and injured in the parking lot of the Mid-Atlantic Boat Club.