A U.S. citizen, Giovonni Z. Pope, was on Tuesday, March 19, sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison for killing his mother, a U.S. Department of Defense civilian employee stationed at a naval base in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The US Justice Department disclosed this in a statement shared on its website.
According to court documents, on January 31, 2021, Pope, 30, killed his mother in the apartment they shared in Bahrain by stabbing her with a knife.
At the time, Pope’s mother was employed as a U.S. Department of the Navy civilian employee, assigned to Naval Support Activity Bahrain, and Pope was living with her as a dependent.
After fatally stabbing his mother, Pope cleaned her body and removed evidence of the murder from the apartment.
He then left in his mother’s car, but on February 1, 2021, was apprehended by Bahraini authorities.
“On Feb. 11, 2021, Pope was ordered detained and removed from Bahrain to the United States pursuant to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act.
“Pope was charged on March 4, 2021, in the District of Maryland with one count of murder while employed by or accompanying the armed forces outside the United States.
“Pope pleaded guilty on Nov. 3, 2023, to second-degree murder,” the statement read in part.