Ramsay jailed for killing ex-girlfriend

Conroy Anderson Ramsay will spend the next 15 years behind bars for killing the mother of his child almost a decade ago.

Justice Randall Worrell handed down the final sentence after considering a scale of 15 to 25 years.

Ramsay, of Godding Road, Station Hill, St Michael, was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of his 24-year-old ex-girlfriend Kimberley Hinds whose naked body was discovered on the living room floor of her Rock Hall, St Thomas residence on March 17, 2013.

Justice Worrell said given the circumstances of this “extremely serious matter” in which Hinds had lost her life and her family had been impacted, her killer could not be given a starting sentence of less than 21 years in prison.

Looking at the aggravating features of the offence, the judge who presides over Supreme Court No. 2 told Ramsay he had gone to Hinds’ home uninvited.

“You were not living there. You were no longer involved in a relationship, why were you there?” he said, also noting that Ramsay left the scene without offering the woman any assistance after she was injured during the scuffle.

“You didn’t make anyone aware of the situation in respect of Kimberley. One doesn’t even know whether Kimberley may have been able to [be] resuscitated if the ambulance came, if a doctor came, if someone who is next door came. You left.

“As you said, you clipped the door and left; you left her there. You knew that she clearly was injured, you went over her – all of these are things that the court has to take into consideration. You didn’t have to leave. You could have notified someone. Your post-offence conduct is something that the court has to take into consideration.”

Another aggravating circumstance, the judge pointed out, was the fact that Ramsay returned to the scene the following day with police but remained mum about what had happened.

“You just went under the guise of collecting clothes. No attention was made to bring to the attention of the police that she was, in fact, in there . . . . You don’t speak about what had taken place. You knew that Kimberley was clearly injured, badly injured; you must have known that. What is even more traumatic  . . . is that her family, they are left to, more or less with the assistance of the landlord, open the house and . . . discover her body. Even if you had a fit of anger, or whatever it was because of provocation . . . you really and truly could have lent assistance to the deceased,” Justice Worrell added as he also pointed to the excessive force used.

As a result of the aggravating factors, the judge raised the starting sentence of 21 years by two, bringing it to 23 years.

Going in Ramsay’s favour, however, was his level of remorse, the fact that he had no previous convictions and that he was at low risk of reoffending.

The fact that the jury found him guilty of manslaughter and not murder was also considered by the judge who added: “Provocation must have entered their minds as far as that is concerned.”

“Whether you thought it was right to go to the house, you must remember that it is her body, it is her residence and, to be quite honest with you, she can do what she likes with it.”

Justice Worrell added: “Yes, you listening and you hearing the noises as far as the phone is concerned – whether it be sexual, whatever it was – I will take into consideration the aspect of provocation.”

He said, given the mitigating factors, the 23 years would be reduced by two years. The 1 637 days that Ramsay spent on remand were then deducted from that 21 years, leaving the killer with 16 and a half years left to serve.

The sentence was then reduced by a further year and a half to take into consideration the delay in hearing Ramsay’s matter, leaving him with 15 years to serve for the killing.

As the judge handed down the sentence Ramsay stood in the dock with his head slightly bowed at times as members of his family and the family of the deceased listened.

He was represented by attorney-at-law Angella Mitchell-Gittens. Director of Public Prosecutions Donna Babb-Agard KC and State Counsel Kevin Forde were the prosecutors.