Patience Leonard, PBA Journalism MenteeA 35-year-old Afghanistan Ex-Soldier, Collin Reeves, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years over violent stabbing of his two neighbors leading to their death.
Reeves was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on June 21st, 2022.
He murdered his neighbors, Stephen and Jennifer Chapple with a ceremonial military dagger at their home in Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset, in November last year, while their children slept upstairs.
According to Sky news report, the court held that Reeves jumped over a fence to gain access to Mr. and Mrs. Chapple’s house just moments before the attack.
“The former Royal Engineer entered the house and stabbed Mrs. Chapple six times in the chest and shoulder, shouting: ‘Die you, f****** die’.
“Mr Chapple was also stabbed six times and was found by emergency services close to the back door of his home,” the report stated.
However, Reeves called 999 and admitted to stabbing them. He confessed that he went round with a knife and stabbed both of them.
It was obtained that the violent attack followed from a disagreement six months earlier, over allocated parking spaces.
He later denied murder and pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the ground of mental imbalance. Contrarily, two forensic psychiatrists revealed he had no post traumatic stress disorder but was diagnosed with moderate depression.
Meanwhile, a jury at Bristol Crown court held that Reeves has been having issues in his marriage that prompted his wife to demand for a trial separation an hour before the murder.
Reacting to the murder, Ann Clayton, mother of Mrs. Chapel lamented “For a mother to lose a child is something that causes never-ending pain, knowing there will forever be a darkness inside you, a light switched off that can never be replaced.”
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Mother of the convict however blamed the two psychiatrists for the shortcomings and claimed there should never have been a trial and his pleas to manslaughter should have been accepted.
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