Andre Bromfield, a former delivery supervisor who confessed to killing his then girlfriend after turning himself in, has had his sentence reduced by the Court of Appeal.

Bromfield was originally sentenced to 18 years and five months at hard labour for shooting Shantell Whyte in the head with his licensed firearm on New Year’s Eve in 2019.

Bromfield originally fled the scene after the shooting, but turned himself over to the police the next day and pleaded guilty in the Manchester Circuit Court on May 16, 2022. A post mortem revealed Whyte died as a result of injuries she sustained to her cranium and multiple gunshots to her face.

Bromfield claimed to have got into a rage after seeing Whyte with another man, who was hugging her and kissing her cheek. He alleged that she was “disrespectful” to him when he confronted her about the interaction and he was overcome with anger and shot her five times. According to the appellant, he did not know what came over him but he simply “snapped”.

During the appeal, Bromfield’s attorney Norman Godfrey argued that the sentence was excessive and that Bromfield was not given the benefit of the 50% per centreduction that is afforded to accused persons who plead guilty. Godfrey argued that given the circumstances and the manner in which similar cases have been handled, his client was to be sentenced to six to 10 years at hard labour.

The Court of Appeal, in reducing the sentence, explained that the presiding judge did not properly follow the steps in relation to the calculation process, nor did she properly consider the mitigating factors. Specifically, there was no proper account of the convict’s remorse, his cooperation with the authorities and that he surrendered to them quickly after the fatal incident.

“We would, therefore, grant the applicant leave to appeal the sentence, allow the appeal and substitute a sentence of 15 years and seven months imprisonment at hard labour, (with) the pre-detention period of two years and five months having been deducted,” the appeals court concluded.

Bromfield’s new sentence will now be counted as running from May 31, 2022, when the original sentenced was imposed.