Antigua court convicts two in murders

Two men have been convicted of murdering Ben and Catherine Mullany, a British couple shot to death on their honeymoon in Antigua. The jury convicted Kaniel Martin, 23, and Avie Howell, 20, of shooting the Mullanys, both 31, in the back of the head in an apparent botched robbery attempt in their $600 a night room at the Cocos Hotel July 27, 2008, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday. Two weeks after killing the Mullanys, Martin and Howell allegedly killed shopkeeper Woneta Anderson during a robbery at her home, prosecutors said. They also are suspects in two other deaths, the report said. The dead couple's parents were in the courtroom when the verdict was read, and called the ruling a hollow victory. In a statement, the parents said, "There is no joy at today's verdict, just a sense of relief that after three years of waiting there is justice for our children, and for Woneta Anderson and her family." "These two individuals can never again inflict the same anguish and devastation to any other family as they have to ours," the statement said. The British Foreign office reportedly pressured prosecutors not to seek the death penalty in the case. "You know the position of the British government," Antigua Attorney General Justin Simon said. "They are against the death penalty. And having given us the assistance, they basically indicated that they hoped we would take their views into consideration in terms of this matter. At the end of the day the judge makes his decision."