A St. George's man was sentenced to five years imprisonment yesterday for helping dispose of a dead man's body over two-and-a-half years ago.

Eugene Victor Broadley, 47, of Coot Pond had pleaded guilty in August to being an accessory to the murder of 57-year-old Vincello (Johnny Peppers) Richardson.

Anthony Edward Flood, 27, was found guilty in November of 1995 of murdering the one-time curator of Fort St. Catherine and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The court heard that Mr. Richardson's body was found floating in St. George's Harbour on December 17 and was brought to shore.

There several people, including Broadley, were asked if they recognised the man and "at that time Broadley looked at the body, shook his head and walked away'', said Crown Counsel Khamisi Tokunbo.

An autopsy on the body revealed the man's death had been caused by multiple blows to his head and face and contusions to the brain.

Police enquiries later revealed the scene of the murder to be in the rear courtyard of Norma's Coffee Shop where the dead man lived.

Broadley was arrested on December 21 but denied any knowledge of the murder for four days.

Then he admitted to Police what he knew and his involvement in the incident.

He told Police that he met Flood on the morning of December 17 and asked him for some money.

Flood asked him to move a body in exchange for the cash and the defendant said: "Yes, let me check it out first.'' He checked the man's pulse and then grabbed him by the legs and shoulders and took him around to the Caribbean Lounge.

There he and Flood threw the body overboard. Broadley said he then went home.

He told Police he assumed Flood had killed the man and agreed to help him move the body because of the money -- which, in the end, he never received.

Mr. Tokunbo asked Chief Justice Austin Ward to take into account that Broadley had taken a long time to plead guilty and had committed "the worst kind of being an accessory after the fact''.

He said this was because Broadley had gone to check the body and then had carried it for a distance before throwing it in the water.

Broadley's lawyer Phil Perinchief argued that his client had not witnessed the murder and had been drinking that night.

Mr. Justice Ward said he had taken everything the lawyers had said into account but the crime was very serious.

He then sentenced Broadley to five years imprisonment with the time he had already spent in jail to be taken into account.