Self-confessed killers Fidel Nkomo Alleyne and Malissa Carla Griffith were today slapped with prison terms of 30 years and 24 years, respectively, but will spend only a fraction of that time behind bars.
After deductions for the period they spent on remand, their guilty murder pleas, and credits for several other mitigating factors, Alleyne now only has eight years and Griffith four years to serve at Dodds. Those sentences take effect from January 15, 2020 – the day the two took responsibility for the shooting death of 22-year-old Lamar Carter between February 9 and 10, 2015.
The year before Carter’s death Griffith confided in Alleyne with whom she had a relationship about suffering abuse at the deceased’s hands. After discussing the situation several times, she ask him if he could help her.
“I ask how? She say like do he something. I was so in love with she that I was blinded by love of what is right from wrong,” Alleyne had told police.
They eventually came to a decision that something would be done when Griffith was out of the island.
“She told me that if I don’t do it, we friendship over. I did not want to lose her friendship because she is the only thing I have gine on in my life right now,” Alleyne further confessed to police.
Alleyne, of No. 116 Denton Road, Grazettes, St Michael and Griffith, of Rochester Way, Grazettes, St Michael, made history in the High Court that day when they became the first accused to plead guilty to murder under the amended Offences Against the Persons Act.
That meant they would not face the death penalty. Section 2 of Cap. 141 of the Act provides for three types of punishments for a convicted murderer: a death sentence, life in prison with a fixed time for release, or a fixed jail term.
In handing down the ruling in the No. 3 Supreme Court via Zoom where the two killers listened from their location at Dodds, Justice Carlisle Greaves revealed that both the prosecution, represented by Principal Crown Counsel Krystal Delaney, and counsels for the defendants, Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim for Alleyne and Angella Mitchell Gittens for Griffith, submitted that the case was appropriate for a fixed sentence to be imposed.
He said that having considered the severity of the offence, the circumstances leading to it, the manner in which it was committed, the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the pre-sentencing reports, the provisions of the Penal Reform Act, the likelihood of further offences and the time served and likely to be served, “I see little or no reason to deviate from counsel’s suggestion.”
Justice Greaves ruled that an appropriate starting point in Alleyne’s case should be 30 years in prison, given the aggravating factors which include his pre-planning of the crime, the use of a firearm and the fact that the gun was not recovered.
The unlawful possession of a firearm alone, he said, would normally attract a substantial sentence in this jurisdiction.
“When it is used to commit an offence, particularly a serious offence such as murder, one could expect a substantially large sentence. When that firearm is not recovered, it raises the spectre that it may be used again, either by the accused at some future date or by another or others. That is in my opinion a substantial aggravating factor,” he said.
The judge pointed to Alleyne’s confession and his apparent initial intent to only beat up Carter in order to scare him from abusing Griffith further but noted that was apparently bungled, “resulting in his shooting of the deceased to prevent his fleeing”.
Under these circumstances, Alleyne’s sentence was adjusted and “fixed” at 13 years.
However, under the law, he received a one-third discount for his guilty plea and the 1 408 days spent on remand as well as “some discount” for the period spent on bail, on the basis that “a person, though on bail, is not at full liberty”.
“In the circumstances, I will fix his sentence to be now served at eight years,” Justice Greaves added.
In the case of Griffith who was the “instigator” of the crime, the judge gave her a starting sentence of 24 years
The aggravating factors in her case, Justice Greaves said, were her role in “pre-planning” the crime and, according to her statement, telling Alleyne that she wanted Carter dead as well as the fact that she left the island at the time of the offence.
Among the mitigating factors, however, were the long and frequent period of abuse – physical and otherwise – at the hands of the deceased, her frustration at the lack of assistance from the police, “her eventual resolution of escape only by self help” which led to Carter’s death, and the fact she did not actually pull the trigger.
The judge said: “I think no man can claim to wear the shoes of a repeatedly, physically abused woman, but whatever those may be, they must have in her world been excruciating if they lead her to the resolution that her only escape was by way of the death of her abuser. In such circumstances I think I should consider such abuse a substantial mitigating factor.”
The judge then fixed Griffith’s sentence at 14 years. After giving discounts for her guilty plea, the 1 653 days she spent on remand and, like Alleyne, some discount for the period spent on bail, the female convict now has four years left to serve at Dodds.
“This is a sad case. From the beginning of time it is demonstrated that the heart of a man weakens his head, but often too it’s the other way round. The deceased has lost his life, leaving his loved ones to mourn. The accused have for some period of time lost their liberty.
“But in all tragedies, there are always lessons for us all as a society. Our women are best loved, not beaten. We must take their cries seriously, regardless of who or what we are, but especially when we are persons in authority. By so doing, we can save lives – theirs, ours and others,” Justice Greaves said.
fernellawedderburn@barbadostoday.bb
