Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

A man who buried an unconscious man after they had a dispute in the bushes in Red Lands district, near Crooked River, Clarendon, was on Tuesday sentenced to 12 years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Zaheer Hibbert, 25, of Red Lands district, who was employed to the Bellevue Hospi-tal as a ward assistant, was charged with the murder of Michael Sanderson, also called 'Bredda', 46, farmer, of the same district.

Hibbert pleaded guilty to the lesser offence after his murder trial began in the Clarendon Circuit Court on November 21. Mr. Justice Donald McIntosh ordered a social enquiry report and sentencing took place on Tuesday in the Home Circuit Court.

The facts of the case as outlined by Maxine Jackson, Crown counsel, were that on October 12 last year, Hibbert and Sanderson had a dispute over coal in bushes in Red Lands district.

Hibbert hit Sanderson's head on a stone and, when the victim went unconscious, dragged him near a river and buried him in the sand. The body was discovered three days later.

The post-mortem revealed that Sanderson died from blunt force injury to the head and drowning.