Gernell Darrell began a life sentence last night after a Supreme Court jury found him guilty of the murder of homeless man.

The jury accepted, by a majority verdict of ten to two, that Darrell, 23, murdered George Kelly by stabbing him once through the heart on May 31.

Darrell's lawyer Mark Pettingill said he would appeal the verdict, but Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Khamisi Tokunbo said the jury made the right decision.

The Crown case was that Darrell stabbed Mr. Kelly at the taxi rank at Church Street, Hamilton, minutes after the deceased had stabbed him in the chest with a screwdriver.

Darrell, who denied murder, admitted stabbing Mr. Kelly, 42, once, although in early interviews with detectives he said he was unsure if he connected.

But he said it was an instant reaction within seconds of being stabbed by Mr. Kelly, and that it took place at the nearby bus terminal, not the taxi rank.

Darrell, of Swansbay Hill, Pembroke, said he picked up a knife which Mr. Kelly had used to stab him in the bus station and immediately stabbed him back.

Assistant Justice Charles-Etta Simmons told him last night: "The punishment for murder is life and that is the sentence I have to pass on you."

Members of Darrell's family wept in court after the verdict was passed. Darrell was calm, but began dabbing his eyes as he was sentenced.

The court heard Darrell began slapping Mr. Kelly three or four times at the bus terminal on the evening of May 31 last year after accusing him of beating up his (Mr. Kelly's) girlfriend and that the assault stopped when the homeless man stabbed him in the chest with the screwdriver.

After the stabbing at the taxi rank, Mr. Kelly ran off and his body was found the following morning in the car park next to the Silver Spoon restaurant on Victoria Street.

Mr. Pettingill, who told the jury it was a "baffling" case in which it would be unsafe to convict his client, told The Royal Gazette after the trial: "We will appeal. It was a ten to two verdict so clearly there were two people who had doubts.

"We are very disappointed. It was a very complicated case and there are a number of issues that arise with regard to an appeal."

Mr. Tokunbo said: "I think the jury got it right. That was the strength of the evidence. They looked like a sensible jury and they got it right."

In summing up yesterday, Mr. Pettingill warned jurors there was a "very grave risk of injustice" if Darrell was convicted of murdering Mr. Kelly.

Darrell's description of the knife he said he used - which has not been recovered - matched that of a weapon said to have been found by Police in Mr. Kelly's bag.

Forensic analysis, however, showed the knife found, and the one described by Darrell, would be too small to deliver the fatal wound.

Mr. Pettingill said the case was "baffling" and there were three possible places where the fatal stabbing could have occurred - at the bus station, at the taxi rank, or later in the evening at the car park at the Silver Spoon.

He suggested an initial suspect in the killing, Darrell's friend Wayne Christopher, who was seen looking for Mr. Kelly in Victoria Park armed with a machete some time after the Crown said the fatal stabbing took place, could have committed the murder.

He also said it was implausible that Mr. Kelly could have been fatally stabbed in the heart at the taxi rank and then run down Cedar Avenue and along Victoria Street to the Silver Spoon without a trace of blood being found.

Asking the rhetorical question of whether it was plausible that Mr. Kelly was stabbed later in the evening at the car park, Mr. Pettingill said: "Absolutely. Is it contradictory of everything the Crown says? Yes it is.

"It is a theory. Is it a plausible alternative? If it causes you to have doubts about how this went down, and it should, then you cannot be sure and you have to acquit Gernell Darrell because he didn't do this and none of us can be sure that someone else didn't do it."

Mr. Christopher, who was not charged or called to give evidence, was at the taxi rank where the Crown says the fatal blow was delivered.

"He saw what went down then he goes looking for him (Mr. Kelly) later. If he saw him receive the fatal stab wound at the taxi rank, why would he go looking for him later? This is a nightmare or it could be," said Mr. Pettingill.

He said the most sensible witness to the incident at the taxi rank was taxi driver Rudolph Bean, who testified that Darrell landed a "roundhouse" blow to Mr. Kelly's neck.

The other witness, Shawne Bascome, who said he saw Darrell stab Mr. Kelly with a forward thrust, admitted he had been drinking and couldn't remember many things.

Mr. Pettingill told the jury: "The Crown says ignore the sensible stuff of Mr. Bean and take the 'I-don't-have-a-clue' stuff from Mr. Bascome and convict. Can you do that in good conscience?"

He continued: "Mr. Kelly did not have justice, Mr. Darrell would not have justice (if you convict) and the killer could be out there somewhere.

"If you have any doubts about all this, you must acquit because that is justice. There is way too much in this case that you can't dismiss.

"Those statements (from Darrell) are admissions about what he believes happened at the bus terminal. If it did happen there, there is a clear cut case of self-defence.

"The DPP reads out the admissions (from Darrell) and asks you to transplant them to another place. This case doesn't fly and there is a very grave risk of injustice."

Earlier, Mr. Tokunbo told the jury Darrell admitted on several occasions to stabbing Mr. Kelly and that he was angry and wanted revenge.

When asked by Police why he went looking for Mr. Kelly again after the incident in the bus station, Darrell replied: "I was angry and still surprised that he stabbed me and I probably wanted to make sure he was stabbed because he had stabbed me."

Mr. Tokunbo said: "There is the evidence of revenge and that he was not acting in self-defence."

When Mr. Kelly went to the taxi rank he said nothing to Mr. Bean about being stabbed earlier, and only mentioned he had been slapped up, continued Mr. Tokunbo.

"You don't have to reconcile everything and everyone. Everything isn't necessarily reconcilable. There are variations," said Mr. Tokunbo.

"I suggest the evidence is overwhelming. You have several admissions and you don't get any better than admissions. Then you get the material lies before he is a suspect.

"You also have evidence of an unprovoked assault by this defendant, evidence that he was the aggressor. You have got evidence that he was the instigator right through to the end."