Kiari Tucker will spend as much as 35 years behind bars for murdering Morlan Steede in 2017.

Tucker was jailed for life by Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe at a sentencing hearing yesterday.

Mr Justice Wolffe said that Tucker must serve a minimum of 25 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Tucker was given a further ten-year jail term for using a firearm to commit an indictable offence. The sentences are to run consecutively.

A jury took seven hours to find Tucker guilty of murder at his trial in March.

Over the course of the six-week trial, the jury saw CCTV footage from Court Street and Deepdale from the night of the murder.

The footage showed Tucker on Court Street shortly before 8pm on November 3 when he appeared to be taken by bike to the Deepdale area.

Cameras at Deepdale captured the shooting. The victim was seen running towards Parsons Road, followed by a person dressed in black.

As they ran, flashes of light were seen coming from the outstretched arm of the person in black.

The court heard that Mr Steede, 30, suffered four gunshot wounds, with the fatal bullet passing through his left lung and heart.

During the hearing yesterday, prosecutor Daniel Kitson-Walters read out victim impact statements from members of Mr Steede’s family, including his daughter, who was 4 when her father was murdered.

The daughter said she felt “sad and mad” at being robbed of her father for the past eight years.

The statement added: “It has been very hard to see others with their dads and having to go to Father’s Days and not being able to let him see how fast I grow up.

“My mom doesn’t have anybody to help her raise me.

“Hi, Daddy, I wish you were here in this world. I love you. Please, please don’t forget me. Everybody misses you, especially Mom.”

Mr Steede’s widow, Martseeyah Jones, also gave a victim impact statement, along with his father and several siblings.

Ms Jones said that her daughter still attended grief counselling and had nightmares.

She wrote: “She is such an emotional but loving little girl. I don’t think she’s accepted that she won’t see her daddy again.

“She was definitely a daddy’s girl. She talks about how she misses him and how proud he would be of all her accomplishments

“I feel entirely alone and incomplete. It is very difficult trying to explain how my life has changed since the night of November 3, 2017.

“I spend a lot of time crying. I cry when I’m at work. I cry when I’m at home.

“Morlan was the best dad ever. He was very hands-on.

“Morlan’s murder has impacted us to the maximum and our lives have been completely changed for ever. I am still not sure how to cope with life in general. Morlan was a very cool, respectable, humble guy who never liked conflict or troubled anyone.

“I have lost my best friend. I am angry. I am afraid. I feel sick all of the time. It’s really hard to put how it feels to lose our world. There is no universal manual for you to deal with the loss.”

Tucker was first tried and found guilty of the murder in 2019, when he was given a 25-year sentence.

That conviction was set aside on appeal. He was tried for a second time in 2022, but that trial ended with a hung jury.

Asked if he had anything to say before sentence was passed, Tucker maintained his innocence.

He said: “I stand before you today with a heavy heart for a crime I did not commit.”

Tucker claimed that police and prosecutors had lied under oath during the trial.

He added: “These perjuries undermined the integrity of justice.

“A grave injustice has happened today. Justice was not served, it was cheated.”

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Wolffe said: “This was a brutal murder and one which has had serious reverberating effects on Mr Steede’s family, particularly his daughter.”

He said that, although Tucker had not shown any remorse or regret, “I will give him a bit of slack” as the conviction is being appealed.

He said that Mr Steede appeared to be “a doting father and trusting brother who will not be able to fulfil his potential”.

“What really breaks my heart is the destruction of our young males,” Mr Justice Wolffe said.

“But today is about Mr Steede’s daughter. Hopefully she will come to the realisation that her future can still be bright and she can use this as a motivation to do well.”

• It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding court cases. As we are legally liable for any libellous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers