in Bermuda say they felt "cheated'' by a five-year sentence handed to one of two men charged in the slaying.

Kirk Mundy, 21, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to being an accessory after the fact in the death of 17-year-old Rebecca Middleton.

He was sentenced to five years in prison.

Ms Middleton's brother Matt said the family was dismayed by the sentence. "I do feel cheated,'' he told Canadian Press in an interview from Belleville, the family's home 80 miles east of Toronto.

"It's frustrating and we are upset. There is not a day that goes by that we don't think about Becky.'' Rebecca Middleton was brutally stabbed to death during a vacation in Bermuda last July.

Mundy is expected to testify in the trial of Justis Smith, charged with premeditated murder in Ms Middleton's death. The preliminary hearing in his case is to begin on Monday.

Mundy appeared solemn throughout the hearing and muttered "I'm sorry'' before being sentenced.

The court was told Mundy claimed he and Ms Middleton had consensual sex at Ferry Reach before the stabbing. When he walked to the nearby water to wash, Mundy heard Ms Middleton scream.

"He heard her scream repeatedly `No!' and said it looked like Smith was punching her in the face,'' said Crown prosecutor Khamisi Tokunbo, reading a record of agreed facts. "He saw red coming from her neck.'' The court was also told that Ms Middleton suffered some 35 wounds and bruises.

In sentencing Mundy, Chief Justice Austin Ward called it a crime "of the utmost gravity.''