Two men were on Friday sentenced to hang after a 12-member jury found them guilty of murdering former Unemployment Relief Programme foreman Anthony McCarthy.

The jury took two hours to deliberate the fates of Ijah Oba Braithwaite and Marlon Taitt.

On hearing the verdict the men turned around and looked at their relatives who could not hold back their tears.

Soft sobs were then heard coming from relatives and friends in the public gallery of the First Criminal Court.

The State's case was led by Senior State attorney Jeron Joseph, while the men were represented by defence attorneys Selwyn Mohammed and Ulric Skerritt.

The trial was heard before Justice Herbert Volney and lasted two weeks.

The State's case relied primarily on the testimony of teenager, Shanika McCarthy. The teenager who was then 16-years-old, is the niece of McCarthy.

During closing arguments Mohammed who represented Taitt, called on the 12-member jury to "not be overcome by sympathy for anyone, neither the accused nor victim."

Mohammed had told the jurors that for the past two weeks they listened to evidence put forth by the State, moreso, the testimony of the main witness.

In response to the claims by the defence, Joseph told the jurors that McCarthy's killing was "a cold, calculated, killing and a merciless execution."

Joseph said: "Shanika is a witness of the truth, there is no evidence that she and others came together. Why would she lie on an innocent person and allow her uncle's real killers to walk free?"

McCarthy, was gunned down on May 16, 2006, while at the family's Plaisance Terrace, John John, Laventille apartment.