One of the highest-profile criminal cases in Antigua and Barbuda’s recent judicial history has reached its conclusion, with Saleim Harrigan handed a mandatory life sentence for the 2020 kidnapping and fatal shooting of senior customs official Nigel Christian. Handing down the ruling at the High Court on Thursday, Justice determined Harrigan will not be eligible to apply for parole until he has completed a minimum 40-year term behind bars. The court confirmed that the time Harrigan has already spent in remand custody will be credited toward his sentence. Harrigan was formally found guilty of Christian’s murder earlier in 2024, more than three years after the crime shook the small Caribbean nation. Prosecutors successfully convinced the jury of the details of the killing: Christian was forcibly taken from his private residence in the McKinnons neighborhood, and his body, bearing multiple gunshot wounds, was subsequently recovered in the Thibou’s area. Two other men, Wayne Thomas and Lasean Bully, who stood trial alongside Harrigan as co-accused in the case, were cleared of all charges earlier in the court proceedings. The brazen killing of a sitting public official sparked intense public outcry across Antigua and Barbuda, turning the trial into one of the most widely followed and debated criminal cases in the country’s recent history. Legal observers note that the final sentence closes a chapter on one of the most significant homicide prosecutions Antigua and Barbuda has conducted in over a decade.
Saleim Harrigan Sentenced to Life in Prison for Nigel Christian Murder
