Sherman Webb pleads guilty to manslaughter of Barbadian

Sherman Webb of Kingshill who was in 2012, convicted for the murder of Corey Rohan Poleon, and later granted a retrial by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) has now pleaded guilty to  killing his “Bajan friend.”

During a High Court sitting today, the prosecution withdrew its earlier indictment of manslaughter and the charge was reread to Webb.

According to court information, between August 31, 2009 and March  18, 2010 at Elmshall, Webb did unlawfully kill Poleon, a 23- year-old University student of the West Indies (UWI)  who had visited Dominica to meet Webb after the men met via the internet.

Poleon’s family members reported him missing following his failure to return home to Barbados.

His mortal remains were later found beneath the floorboards of a small wooden house in River Claire, Elmshall, where Webb had taken Poleon and  “chopped him on both sides of his neck” causing him to bleed to death.

Until today, Webb had maintained his innocence claiming that Poleon came to visit him in August 2009 to conduct an “occult ceremony which involved the summoning of a demon,” which would allow Poleon to receive his own guardian spirit.

He told the court during his 2012 trial that Poleon had returned to Dominica after an initial visit and two days after his arrival, they went up to a small house in Elmshall to conduct the ceremony.

Webb said that during the said ceremony, the Barbadian became frightened  which caused him to “step out of the circle” causing a demon to possess him.

He said he chopped  Poleon on the neck with a cutlass to force the demon to leave his body and later buried him under the wooden house where they had conducted the ritual after “banishing the spirits.”

Webb, in his final statements, said “I do not agree that I killed Corey. He was a friend of mine.”

When his corpse was later discovered, samples of the remains unearthed by the police were taken to Jamaica and Barbados for testing and the remains were confirmed to be those of Poleon.

Investigators reportedly found several items of paraphernalia related to some form of satanic ritual at Webb’s home.

On June 22, 2012, after an eight day trial,  a nine member jury handed down a guilty verdict in the matter.

Two weeks later , July 20, 2012, Justice Bernie Stephenson Brooks sentenced  Webb to life in prison.

Before sentencing, Justice Brooks labeled the facts of the case as “unusual and unfortunate and bizarre.”

She described the killing of the Poleon as “cold, callous, brutal, calculated and heinous” and stated that the court needed to send a strong message to society that such acts would not be tolerated.

The sentence was later appealed in 2016 and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) quashed Web’s conviction and ordered a retrial.

Webb’s lawyer, at the time,  Peter Alleyne, had four grounds of appeal namely, the trial Judge misdirected when she failed to explain to the jury an accident in law; the trial Judge failed to properly address the jury on the law governing self defense; the trial judge failed to address the issue or defense of accident and according to Alleyne, she was biased and prejudiced towards his client.

The ECSC judges, however, dismissed his first ground of appeal and upheld ground two and concluded that the trial Judge gave directions in “a vacuum.”

Webb, who has been in custody for the past 10 years, is now represented by Attorney-at-Law Kondwani Williams.

Before handing down her sentence, Justice Wynante Adrien-Roberts has ordered a social inquiry report and a psychiatric report by Dr. Griffin Benjamin on or before June 1, 2021, whilst the prosecution and defense are to file their submissions on or before June 15, 2021.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 21, 2021.