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Shooter gets 10.8 years

by Barbados Today
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Five years ago, a man armed himself with a firearm and shot another in the back three times. The bullets pierced his heart, liver and lungs, leaving him paralysed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair.

Today, Neco Ramone Johnson of Watts Village, St George was sentenced to 10.8 years in prison for the crime.

The 25-year-old pleaded guilty on Wednesday to using a firearm without a licence and unlawfully wounding Cal Best with intent to do him serious bodily harm, maim or disfigure him on September 19, 2015.

According to the case details, Best spent seven months in the hospital and the firearm was never recovered.

Johnson gave the police a number of alibis before eventually admitting to the shooting.

In one of his oral statements to police, Johnson said: “ I ghine tell you, I aint hiding nothing. I went to kill he cause he feel he bad, thieving people herb.”

In a written statement by the accused he explained that he went to kill Best but when he pointed the gun to his head, Best got up and the shots entered his back instead.

During an identification exercise carried out in relation to shoes found at the residence of the accused, he said , “Dem aint the shoes I had on. Look you tek up my gun when it drop, yuh freak. Tell Cal Best, he is a dead man yuh c…t.” This was said in the presence of a witness who identified the shoes.

Acting Senior Crown Counsel Rudolph Burnett suggested a sentence of 24 years while defence lawyer Safiya Moore stated that 15 years was an appropriate starting point.

Based on the facts, Justice Carlisle Greaves said the matter was “a classic attempted murder” and merited a custodial sentence.

“The sentence must therefore fall at the higher end of sentences for wounding with intent. The accused’s own words are plain about that. He intended to shoot the victim in his head but because the victim rose he was instead shot in the back. Furthermore the crime was premeditated and it was over enforcement of drug matters,” he said.

The court considered the aggravating factors of the ordeal. The complainant suffered along with his families’ substantial suffering as a result.

The unflattering pre-sentencing report spoke of Johnson’s troubled youth, detailing how he was expelled from secondary school after spending three years in a form. It also spoke to parental discord.

Johnson described himself as a young user of marijuana and his employment record was considered “sporadic”.

The court found it concerning that Best and Johnson were known to each other, having grown up together.

The mitigating factors were said to be the guilty plea and his expression of remorse.

The non recovery of the gun, according to Justice Greaves, was a substantial aggravating factor. He noted  “It raises the spectre that it may remain available either for future use by the accused or others.”

The judge considered a sentence of 25 years as appropriate for the wounding charge. One third discount was given for his guilty plea and his 5.8 years in custody was further deducted. He rounded off the sentence at 10. 8 years which is to be served from August 10, 2020.

As for the offence of using the firearm, a sentence of 15 years was considered appropriate, less the one third discount and the 5.8 years time spent in custody. He will spend 4 years in jail from August 10, 2020. It will run concurrent with the 10.8 years sentence.

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