The Dorchester gang member who shot 10-year-old Trina Persad in the face with a shotgun, killing her instead of a rival, was sentenced to life in prison plus an additional 15 years, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced today.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Nancy Staffier Holtz sentenced JOSEPH COUSIN (D.O.B. 8/9/84) to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years, the mandatory sentence for second-degree murder, of which he was convicted yesterday after a two-week jury trial.

For his additional convictions at trial, Holtz sentenced Cousin to the terms recommended by First Assistant District Attorney Josh Wall: eight to 10 years for receiving the stolen motor vehicle from which Cousin fired the fatal shot plus four and a half to five years for unlawfully possessing the shotgun he used to kill her.

Wall called the motor vehicle charge “the most serious type of stolen motor vehicle case … a motor vehicle stolen in advance of a crime with a murder planned.” He noted that the shotgun conviction was Cousin’s second firearms conviction and, again, “the most serious type of firearm conviction.”

“Mr. Cousin is the one who chose this sentence,” Holtz said as she handed down his sentence. “He chose this life. He chose this outcome.”

Conley lauded the punishment and the conviction that brought it about.

“Testimony established that the defendant took aim at a rival, not at Trina. That is not a mitigating factor here,” he said. “If anything, the careless, reckless, shameless use of a shotgun in a children’s playground only aggravates the facts. When he armed himself with a loaded weapon, pointed the barrel out a car window, and pulled the trigger, there was no other imaginable outcome. Judge Holtz’s sentence is appropriate to the facts, the law, and the jury’s verdict.”

Prior to sentencing, Wall read to the court impact statements from two members of Trina’s family.

One statement was from the slain girl’s father, Alvin Persad, who was not present in the courtroom but who wrote that he was “overwhelmed with sadness” in the aftermath of his daughter’s death and that her murder was “a nefarious act committed by an inhumane individual.”

Wall also read a statement that Trina’s sister, Tamari, prepared for Cousin’s first trial, which ended in a mistrial in 2004 after several jurors were found to have lied on their jury questionnaires. Tamari was 8 years old when it was written.

“Dear Court,” the statement read, “I don’t like what the bad boys did to my sister because she was my favorite sister in the world and I feel so so sad that they killed my sister my favorite favorite sister.”

Trina’s cousin, Tchintcia Barros, addressed the court from the witness stand, saying that “We miss Trina so much. Our lives are not the same without her.”

Describing the adults in her life, she said they tried to carry on after the child was slain but “they were broken inside.”

Children, she said, “should not have to worry about stray bullets. We hope this sends a message … violence doesn’t solve anything.”

Bernadette Fernandes, Trina’s mother, played a video for the court that featured footage of the child at play but also news footage broadcast in the aftermath of her shooting. Only afterward did she speak briefly to the man who killed her child.

“When Trina’s life was taken,” she said, “your life was also taken. I have nothing negative to say about you. You have to make your peace with your maker.”

Prosecutors proved that Cousin, a member of the Magnolia-Intervale-Columbia gang, sought to retaliate against his rivals, the Big Head Boyz, for an earlier shooting when he enlisted an associate to steal a car on the evening of June 29, 2002. He then armed himself with a shotgun and, with others, travelled to Jermaine Goffigan Park and exchanged words with members of the rival gang.

At that time, Trina, her siblings, and an adult family friend were playing in the park. When the adult, whom they called “Auntie Kathleen,” saw the two groups confronting one another, she gathered the children to hustle them out of the park.

The stolen car circled the block. The children approached the street.

It was then, the evidence showed, that Cousin pointed the barrel of the shotgun out the window and pulled the trigger.

Trina was hit full in the face by the blast. Shotgun pellets tore through her face and skull into her brain, mortally wounding her. She died of her injuries at Boston Medical Center.

Minutes later, Cousin was arrested a short distance away as he stood next to the stolen car. The Boston Police officer who took him into custody was, at that time, unaware of the murder. His fingerprints were later recovered from the vehicle.

Also early in the investigation, a fellow MIC gang member told Boston Police detectives that Cousin fired the fatal shot, laying out the motive and the gunman with no promise of lenience and no offers of a deal. He testified at trial.

Two members of the rival Big Head Boyz also testified against Cousin, including one who openly stated that he cooperated because the slain girl was not a member of the gang world and did not deserve to die.

Wall elicited additional testimony from someone he called “a completely clean witness” – one with no criminal convictions, no gang ties, no rivalry against Cousin, and no personal agenda. That woman testified that Cousin and another man had come to her house in the hours after the shooting and talked about having just been involved in a shooting.

Michael Coffey was the victim-witness advocate assigned to the case. Cousin was represented by attorney William White.