Convict not beyond redemption, says lawyer

The “five prison years” that Shad Gabriel Orlando Slocombe has so far spent on remand at Dodds is sufficient punishment for having an illegal firearm and ammunition over four years ago.

That submission was put forward by Michael Lashley, King’s Counsel (KC)  who today pleaded with Madame Justice Laurie-Ann to extend leniency to the convicted man.

The 22-year-old Slocombe, of Block 1, No. 5, Country Road High Rise Towers, St Michael had earlier pleaded guilty to having a .32 revolver and five rounds of ammunition on July 18, 2018. He also admitted to supplying the firearm and ammunition.

Lashley told the No. 4 Supreme Court that his client deserved a non-custodial sentence considering the long time spent on remand.

He told Justice Smith-Bovell that the imposition of a fine was also an option.

Lashley pointed to Slocombe’s previously clean record, the fact that both the firearm and ammo had been recovered, that the firearm had not been used in the commission of an offence and the fact that he was just 18 years old when he committed the offences.

He said a pre-sentencing report showed that he was well-liked in the community.

Lashley said despite being in jail since 2018, Slocombe’s previous employer was open to rehiring him when he was released.

“I am urging the court in respect of these circumstances to look respectfully at a non-custodial sentence and that if there is someone who would fit into the non-custodial sentence it is Shad Slocombe…I believe that Shad Slocombe should start at the lower end of the scale in respect to the guidelines,” Lashley said.

“I believe, not seeking to be presumptuous, in a matter like this where he has spent five prison years in prison, that it is my respectful submission that he has already served his time and that if the court is not so minded to even look at time served I am asking that the court go the way of a fine.

“I am asking the court, I don’t want to use the word begging, but I am pleading for this young man to be given a chance,” Lashley said, while contending that Slocombe was not beyond redemption.

Earlier, the defense attorney called Slocombe’s stepfather Thelston Carter as a character witness. He described Slocombe as a “very good guy” who helped him in his upholstery business.

He said he was hurt when he heard he had been charged with the offences.