Convicted manslayer Kason Edwards should be given a starting sentence of no less than 25 years for killing Jason Husbands more than a decade ago, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC has contended.
Edwards’ lawyer, however, does not believe it should go past 15 years.
The two entered their submissions before Justice Randall Worrell in the No. 2 Supreme Court on Monday.
Husbands was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest while next to his vehicle on Lamberts Road, St Lucy, on August 21, 2012.
Admitting that Edwards’ pre-sentencing report was highly favourable for a person convicted of such an offence, Seale urged the court to consider the convicted man’s statement in deciding on a sentence, in particular, his behaviour before and after committing the crime.
Recounting the evidence in the case, the deputy DPP said: “He brek in a man house and steal he gun. He use this gun to attempt to rob people and tried it out more than once . . . . He ensured that this gun was functional. His intention was to use this gun. If we follow the statement, more than one vehicle passed there. He said ‘A car came up with tourists, I ran out in the road and raised the gun but it did not stop. I had to run out the road. Then I raised the shotgun, pulled the trigger and nothing happened and this frustrated me’.”
He pointed out that Edwards made several other attempts to shoot and rob passers-by by placing obstacles on the road, before Husbands arrived in the area, but the shotgun had not fired.
“These are clear instances of intention,” the prosecutor said.
Seale also referred to Edwards’ claim that he shot Husbands by accident after the man threw a rock at him when he saw him with the firearm.
“Even if we accept his version of it, you are telling me that the driver attacked him? This is a man who just shoots and the gun didn’t go off, ejects the shot and puts another one in the breech with a clear intention to harm you. What was Jason Husbands supposed to do other than throw something to deflect him?” he continued.
After shooting Husbands, Edwards told police he went into the man’s vehicle and stole several of his belongings — a fact that Seale said showed a level of “callousness” and “depravity”.
Among the aggravating factors in the case, the prosecutor said, were the use of a shotgun, that Edwards was armed beforehand, and his use of excessive force. The mitigating facts were his previous clean record and favourable pre-sentence report.
Noting there was no early guilty plea or expression of remorse, the Deputy DPP said the only deductions allowed should be for Edwards’ time on remand and the delay in the matter being brought to trial.
Insisting that the court has a duty to believe that people can be rehabilitated, Edwards’ legal counsel Marlon Gordon submitted that the starting point should fall between 10 and 15 years.
He also highlighted the pre-sentence report which showed that his client was remorseful towards the victim and his family.
Justice Worrell is expected to sentence Edwards on July 16.
