Restraining victim Jermaine (Red) Pitcher while Ryan Ball stabbed him to death earned Keniel Ingham 12 years in prison - two years more than Ball received for his part in the crime - after a Supreme Court jury found him guilty of manslaughter yesterday.

An intense silence fell over the court room as the foreman announced that the six men and six women of the jury had unanimously agreed on the guilty verdict. Ingham, 29, of Rockland's Estate, Warwick, was convicted of killing Mr. Pitcher in the course of a bloody fight outside Champion's night club on February 27, 2000.

Two other men - Ryan (Tiger) Ball and Jamal (Knolly) Robinson - have already pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges. Robinson admitted his role two weeks ago and will be sentenced soon.

Over the course of the trial the court heard from eyewitnesses that the three men had chased down the victim in the street after the night club closed. Robinson and Ingham then held the man while Ball stabbed him frantically in the back - inflicting 19 separate wounds including a fatal blow which pierced his left lung and was thrust so deeply that the machete used to kill him nearly emerged from the front of his chest.

In the course of his defence, Ingham claimed he had been acting out of self defence on the night of Mr. Pitcher's death, aged 27.

Ingham said he was subjected to two unprovoked attacks when he left the club - first from Mr. Pitcher's half-brother Shane Fox, who he eventually laid out in the street, and later from Red Pitcher who approached him wielding a weapon consisting of a piece of metal attached to a length of rope. Ingham also claimed that he had no idea Ryan Ball had a knife, did not know who had stabbed Mr. Pitcher and did not know how he himself came to be stabbed.

But in holding Ingham equally accountable in the death to the man who stabbed the victim, the jury rejected the self defence claim and accepted the prosecution's stance the men had acted in concert.

In handing down the sentence of 12 years, Assistant Supreme Court Justice Archibald Warner said that as far as the law was concerned, Ingham's role of restraining Mr. Pitcher as he was stabbed made him as much of a primary party in the deadly assault as Ball.

"Killing is killing," said Mr. Justice Warner. "I am of the view that his role is akin to that of Ball."

He added: "The defendant did not plead guilty, therefore, he is not entitled to any discount Ryan Ball may have received for his early plea of guilty.

"Under the circumstances, the applicable sentence is 12 years in prison."

The sentence was, however, more lenient than the 13 to 15 year sentence the prosecution team of Dorien Taylor and Graveney Bannister had asked the court to consider for Ingham.

"The courts must send a message that there can be no value which can be attached to human life," said Mr. Taylor. "Life is something which at all times we must strive to preserve.

"The court has a duty to put society's interests first for such acts and, at the same, time send a clear message to society that such behaviour will not be tolerated."

But defence attorney Venous Telford had said the court should consider that Mr. Pitcher had been swinging a weapon at her client and that the killing had occurred in the context of a bloody fracas in which at least five men were involved.

She said her client should not be given more punitive sentence than the man who actually inflicted the life-snuffing stab wounds.

"That seems illogical," she said and suggested the Mr. Justice Warner consider a sentence of six to eight years.

Ingham was stone-faced after hearing the guilty verdict and later upon hearing the sentence. The maximum penalty for manslaughter is life in prison.

"I don't know what to say right now," he said when asked if he had anything to say to the court on his own behalf. "I never expected anyone to do anything like that. All I was doing was trying to defend myself. I was only trying to get away."

Ingham added: "I'm sorry."

Immediately after the sentence was handed down Ingham was lead by Prison officers to a waiting van.

A quietly weeping young woman was comforted by a friend as the van pulled away from the court house taking the 29-year-old man to prison.

Robinson changed his plea to guilty after his joint manslaughter trial with Ingham had to be abruptly aborted on October 9 - six days into evidence - because two members of the the original jury were unable to complete the trial due to travel commitments.

Yesterday, Mr. Taylor asked that Ingham and Robinson be sentenced together but Mr. Warner elected to proceed with Ingham's sentencing solo as Robinson is currently without legal counsel.

Defence attorney Victoria Pearman withdrew from Robinson's case after he changed his plea to guilty against her advice.