Crown says punishment must fit crime

The public prosecutors office in Barbados has sounded the warning that they will be going for the proverbial jugular when it comes to sentencing proposals for non-capital murder. They will be seeking “nothing less than 39 to 40 years” in prison for those convicted of the offence.

Noting that there is a “new dispensation” at the Department of Public Prosecutions, Deputy Director Alliston Seale insisted that any shorter jail periods was not only “preposterous” but would make a “mockery” of the island’s justice system.

At the same time, both Seale, a former policeman and Justice Randall Worrell maintained that sentencing guidelines were urgently needed for such offences.

Addressing the matter in the No. 2 Supreme Court, the top prosecutor suggested that old sentencing guidelines in the Court of Appeal manslaughter case of Pierre Lorde could only assist as far as factors to be taken into consideration were concerned, and they could not be applied to non-capital murder cases.

“Even in the face of manslaughter, our apex court, the Caribbean Court of Justice, says it could end up with extremely lenient sentences, extremely low sentences, and that is for manslaughter. What do we make of non-capital murder? Certainly, we have to embark on clear . . . sentencing guidelines for these sort of offences,” Seale said as he made submissions for the sentencing of convicted killers Kadeem Torian Wilkinson and Torrell Sergio Holligan who chopped to death Kenrick Adolphus Spooner, on July 13, 2017.

“I want persons to understand the position of the Department of Public Prosecutions – and I don’t speak as the Deputy DPP, I speak in consultation with the Director [of Public Prosecutions Donna Babb-Agard Q.C.]. This is a new dispensation . . . . We have evolved as far as these matters are concerned. There is no more manslaughter or straight to murder, which was looked at as the capital type of murder where there was a death penalty. We have to implement new rules, new sentencing guidelines and a new understanding of sentencing.   

“And this is why I am urging the court that in these embryonic matters, this sets the trend for the other would-be matters that would come in, and if we are exceptionally lenient, we will fall in a trap of Pierre Lorde . . . ,” the prosecutor added.

In the case of Lorde, the Court of Appeal suggested that in a contested trial where death was caused by a firearm and the facts were on the borderline of murder with no mitigating features, the range of sentence should be 25 years and upwards, including, life imprisonment.   

The court also suggested that in a contested trial where death was caused by a firearm and the facts were grave but mitigating factors such as provocation existed, the range of sentence should be 18 to 22 years. However, an early guilty plea in a non-contested case on similar facts would attract a lower sentence, in the range of 14 to 18 years.   

As for a contested trial where no firearm was used and there were no mitigating circumstances, the range of sentence should be 16 to 20 years, according to the court; while an early guilty plea in this type of case would reduce the range of sentence to 10 to 14 years.

However, in a contested trial where the offender had no “intrinsically” dangerous weapon and there were mitigating features, the range of sentence should be eight to 12 years; while an early guilty plea in this type of case would attract a sentence of less than eight years.   

However, Justice Worrell made it clear that such sentencing guidelines cannot apply in the case of non-capital murder.

“So, guidelines have to come and they have to come soon . . . . The sooner the guidelines come, the better. I do not think we can apply Pierre Lorde guidelines in manslaughter to non-capital murder. I can’t see it happening,” the High Court judge said.

Seale agreed, saying that the law had evolved.

“We are accepting now non-capital murder and there will no longer be any agreement to accept manslaughter unless there is clear evidence. We have been mandated to reduce the backlog but we are not doing it at the expense of the . . . citizens of this country. We will not simply, to reduce backlog, take anything . . . .

“Thirty-nine to 40 years should be the least of a starting point that we should be examining when we talk about non-capital murder. It cannot be a starting point that confuses itself with manslaughter,” he insisted.

The Deputy DPP said people must be cognisant of the sanctity of life.

“We simply cannot say to killers that you will be back out on the streets before the proverbial cat has licked his ears. It is not justice, it is not fairness and it causes a society – especially victims’ families, loved ones – to lose trust in the criminal justice system.

“When you kill somebody, you can say from the onset ‘I will do some good time’. So, the person who is willing to try and take on the system, then he will spend 40 years in prison. But those who recognise their wrongdoing and are prepared to give an early guilty plea, they will then benefit from the one-third discount,” he said.

In the matter before the No. 2 Supreme Court, Holligan of Poole Land, St John, and Wilkinson, of Todd’s Land, St George, pleaded guilty to the non-capital murder of Kenrick Adolphus Spooner, who was chopped to death on July 13, 2017.

The two were both 17 years old at the time of the killing.
(fernellawedderburn@barbadostoday.bb)