Judge jails killer who went beyond self-defence in 2017 shooting

escribing the number of shots Lorent Forde “pumped” into the back of Ajay Smith more than seven years ago as aggravating, Justice Randall Worrell gave the killer a starting sentence of 25 years. But after deductions were made, including the time already spent on remand, the Bourne’s Land, Christ Church resident will spend 14 more years at Dodds Prison.

 

“Even though there was provocation by the deceased, your actions went way above what could be considered as self-defence,” the judge told Forde who stood in the dock of the No. 2 Supreme Court on Tuesday.

 

Earlier this year, a 12-member jury found Forde not guilty of the murder of 19-year-old Smith between May 23 and 24, 2017, but guilty of manslaughter. Smith’s body had been discovered on the hard court in St Christopher, Christ Church.

 

“Shooting someone five or six times and in the back is aggravating,” Justice Worrell said, also pointing out that the act was done in a public place.

 

Mitigating in Forde’s favour, however, was his age at the time of the offence – 28 years – and that he had no criminal record before the incident. One year was deducted from the starting sentence as a result.  The judge also credited him for the 2 721 days spent on remand and 730 days for the delay in being brought to trial.

 

“That leaves you with 5 309 days to serve,” Justice Worrell told him.

 

The State’s case was that hours before his death, Smith ran up at Silver Sands Cross Roads after 11 p.m. and shot at several men who were liming in the area, injuring several people, including Forde who was grazed by one of the bullets. Angered by the situation, the men set out in search of Smith. The following day, he was spotted in the gap by St Christopher Primary School and the men corralled Smith on the hardcourt, and Forde fired several shots into him before they fled the scene.

 

In his statement to the police, Forde said he had to shoot Smith to defend himself.

 

However, he gave the court a different account of what had transpired. He said that after being grazed by the bullet in the initial shooting, he returned and heard the other men saying, “We gine have to put a stop to this” and he told them, “The best thing to do is to go home.”

 

Forde said that a group got into a car to go look for Smith while he searched for his chain that had fallen off during his run to escape the bullets, and then headed over to a female friend to spend the night as he had been “traumatised” by the shooting. The following day, after going home, he heard that there was a body on the hardcourt and that it was Smith.

 

He told the court that he had been threatened and beaten by police into giving a confession.

 

Principal State Counsel Oliver Thomas prosecuted the matter, while defence attorney Sally Commissiong represented Forde.