The sentencing of a convicted fraudster has been pushed back until April 29.

High Court Justice Randall Worrell gave the adjournment in the case of Winston Decoursey Clarke on Tuesday, as he is still waiting on a report from Dodds Prison.

Clarke, of 7th Avenue New Orleans, St Michael, had previously pleaded guilty to uttering to Neo Graphics, four banknotes purporting to be issued by the Central Bank of Barbados, knowing them to be forged; and obtaining money on the forged instruments, on March 22, 2013.

The banknotes were given to the business to pay for printing a banner requested by Clarke who is also a graphics artist. When an official of the business went to deposit the money at the bank, she was informed it was counterfeit.

The businesswoman then contacted Clarke and told him about the development, and he told her he did not know the money was counterfeit.

“I am extremely sorry for what has transpired. I am hoping to make amends . . . . I ask that the court has mercy on me in this matter,” Clarke told the court on Tuesday.

His attorney Rashida Edwards urged the court to impose either time served or a fine in the range of $500 on her client for the crime.

Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis countered, saying that the court should impose a fine in the region of $750 along with court costs.

The keeper of records at the Barbados Police Service Criminal Records Department revealed on Tuesday that Clarke has 40 prior convictions, including one for unlawful killing; two for wounding; four for robbery; six for theft; four for criminal damage; eight for burglary; and one under the Computer Misuse Act.

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The details of how lawmen found a woman in possession of an illegal gun and ammunition will be disclosed in the No. 2 Supreme Court at the end of this month.

Natalie Delores Clarke, of Stewart Hill, St John, appeared before Justice Randall Worrell on Tuesday and admitted to having a .22 handgun and ten rounds of ammunition in her possession on May 19, 2021 without the necessary licences.

The facts of her case will be revealed by Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis on April 29.

A presentencing report has also been requested from the Probation Department on the convicted woman who has been ordered to reappear before the High Court on June 10 for the sentencing phase of her case.

Clarke is being represented by attorneys-at-law Simon Clarke and Michael Lashley Q.C.

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Emil Bernard Williams is a free man after charges against him relating to the importation of guns and ammunition were dismissed.

A nine-member jury on Tuesday found the 44-year-old, of Elizabeth Park, Christ Church not guilty on all seven counts.

Williams, who was represented by attorneys-at-law Andrew Pilgrim Q.C. and Martie Garnes, had been charged with importing a 7.62 Russian calibre semi-automatic pistol; a .38 special calibre revolver; a 9mm Luger semi-automatic pistol; a .40 Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol and 103 rounds of ammunition on April 17, 2012.

He was also accused of conspiring with other persons to import the firearms and ammunition.

In an unsworn statement earlier this week Williams declared that he was “Never a gun-toting man” nor was he affiliated to any “bad boys”.

“In terms of the guns I never even touched a firearm in my life, that’s the honest truth. I have never in my life touched a firearm. I have seen it around me and what not . . . but I have no need for a firearm, not even a legal firearm much less an illegal one.

“The amount of firearms and ammunition in the case, what I doing with that? What could I be doing with it? A man like me . . . I am not a gang member . . . what would I be doing with these guns? What would I be doing with a hundred and something rounds of ammunition? I ain’t no trouble tree . . . ,” he told the No. 3 Supreme Court presided over by Justice Carlisle Greaves.

After deliberating for about two hours on Tuesday, following Justice Greaves’ summation of the case, the jurors returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on all seven counts of the original 12-count indictment.

Williams’ case was prosecuted by Crown Counsel Romario Straker.

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A man who pleaded guilty to gun and ammunition charges will reappear before the High Court later this month when the facts of his case will be disclosed.

Garendra Alexander Thomas, of Redman’s Road, Deacon’s, St Michael will appear before Justice Randall Worrell in the No. 2 Supreme Court on April 29.

Thomas pleaded guilty to having a 9mm handgun on March 16, 2021 along with ten rounds of ammunition with no valid licences, authorising him to have them.

Attorney-at-law Simon Clarke said his client has waived the right to a pre-sentencing report pending his sentencing.

The time he has spent on remand in relation to the offence is expected to be read into evidence on his next court appearance.

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Submissions by defence attorneys that two men be given suspended sentences for their roles in a “nefarious” crime that involved a hit being placed on a woman after they stole her money, have been rejected by the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions.

And while it will not be until May 5 that Alliston Seale tells the court what sentence he believes the men should get, he suggested on Wednesday they should spend time behind bars.

“This matter is one hitherto unknown in Barbados . . . . This has all the trappings of a suspense thriller, a novel, and I am sure that a movie can one day be made of this. This is exceptionally serious,” he said as he questioned how the men’s attorneys could see the crime, which he described as “sophisticated” at every level, as warranting non-custodial sentences.

Seale was addressing Madam Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell when the case of Kevin Dacosta Cadogan, of Arthur’s Seat, St Thomas; Kirk St Clair White, of Jackson Main Road, St Michael; and Adrian Drakes, of White Hill Village, Shop Hill, St Michael, continued before the No. 4 Supreme Court.

Drakes and White both pleaded guilty to conduct endangering the life of a female pensioner, placing her in danger of death or serious bodily harm on August 24, 2011; while Drakes was separately charged with use of a firearm. White and Cadogan also admitted to theft of money and money laundering.

The money crimes involved the theft of $290 000 and $22 960 belonging to the Bank of Nova Scotia, between August 1 and October 31, 2011; as well as engaging in transactions totalling $312 960, the proceeds of crime.

After outlining all the mitigating and aggravating factors of the crime committed by their clients who are first-time offenders, Queen’s Counsel Michael Lashley who along with attorneys Simon Clarke and Ken Mason represented White, and defence counsel Sade Harris who appeared for Cadogan, amicus curiae, urged the court to be lenient and to temper justice with mercy by imposing non-custodial sentences in the form of suspended sentences.

Drakes, who was the shooter in the matter and is representing himself, had made his submissions on sentencing at a previous sitting of the court.

While agreeing that justice needs to be tempered with mercy, the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions said “justice still means justice for all”.

He said the case could not be individualised or particularised but must be treated as a whole.

“It is by treating it as a whole that you see the depravity of the actions of the convicted men, whatever role they may have played and the roles that are before the court.

“When the defence seeks to speak about non-custodial sentences, it really causes me to wonder, notwithstanding their respective duty to their clients . . . how can one reasonably look at this situation and believe that an individual should be allowed to remain free, basically; that this does not reach the threshold of a custodial sentence?” he submitted to the court.

In summarising the facts of the crime, Seale agreed with defence attorney Harris that this was an “exceptional case”, adding that in his almost 20 years at the Bar he had never come across a matter of this nature.

He said that the woman went to the United States and England to work and repatriated her money to Barbados for her retirement.

Having done that, Seale stated, “she goes to the bank and after having had well over a quarter of a million dollars, she discovers she has $28. That is an instant heart attack and death for some people . . . . One could imagine the trauma that came upon her . . . . But that is the beginning of this story, that is not the end.”

According to Seale, after the bank launched an investigation into the matter, the elderly woman discovered a note on her step, which basically stated: “We took your money, we would like to pay it back.”

However, after conversing with one of the culprits over the phone, she told them to speak to the police, and it was when the men realised they were in danger of discovery that they “upped the ante”.

“So, we go and look for an assassin, we look for a man that is high and strung out on drugs . . . a hitman . . . somebody who will do this job. Here it is we know a man who is . . . willing to do anything for the next fix . . . . He is told that there is a job for you and there is some money involved and he is willing to do anything,” Seale said as he summarized the facts of the case.

Drakes, who was regarded as a ‘parro’, was subsequently given a gun. He went to the woman’s house,having been transported there, but she did not come outside.

The pensioner, who was standing behind a wrought iron window, subsequently discovered that her finger was bleeding after Drakes said he “let go a frighten shot”.

“The shot struck the wrought iron and hit her hand. That could have lodged in the woman’s cranium, in her chest, she could have been dead,” Seale said.

“That nefarious activity is nothing short of putting a hit on the woman who, after you stole her money and [when] it was discovered, you decide that you will get rid of her. Fortunately, she is still alive . . . . This is a matter that one cannot take lightly. . . . This is a matter at every level, whether you look at it as endangering life; whether you look at it as use of firearm; whether you look at it for the theft or for the money laundering, each and every one of these matters before the court, in my humble submission, speaks of a custodial sentence,” the prosecutor insisted.

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Convicted thief Jason Renaldo Ashton is set to reappear before Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes next month to find out his fate.

The 35-year-old mechanic from Medford Land, St Matthias, Christ Church pleaded guilty before the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court to stealing $2 200 belonging to Elsa Reid, as well as a timing belt, a timing belt tensioner, three oil seals, and two cylinder head rubbers totaling $140.44, between February 24 and 27 this year.

He also admitted to stealing $1 200 belonging to Angela Ifill between February 28 and March 3.

Ashton will be sentenced on May 4 when he reappears before Weekes.

His legal troubles do not end there, however, as he is also set to appear before the No. 2 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on May 3 in connection with assaulting police officers.

It is alleged that on April 12, 2022, he assaulted Police Constables Kevin Mayers and Oshea Kellman in the execution of their duties.

Ashton has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

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A 19-year-old who assaulted his father and damaged his property has been placed on a bond to keep the peace and be on his best behaviour for the next three months.

If Theron Edson Theo Edwards, of Mayers Road, Smith Road, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael breaches the order of Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes, he will have to pay a forthwith fine of $1 000 or spend 60 days at Dodds Prison.

The sentence was imposed after the teenager, who is a tiler by trade, pleaded guilty before the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to damaging eight louvre panes belonging to Theron Edwards, his father, and assaulting him on April 17.

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Two American women, who imported marijuana into Barbados and are currently at Dodds Prison awaiting their fate, have been told that “quick opportunities to make quick bucks will always lead to problems”.

Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes made the comment as he addressed drug couriers Brittany Georgina Brown, a 28-year-old medical assistant from 414 Sutter Avenue Brooklyn, New York and 20-year-old exotic dancer Samiyah Nicole Spencer of, 18 Scenic Croton On Hudson, West Chester, New York.

They will reappear before the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on Friday when they will be sentenced.

The two who were separately charged, pleaded guilty to the offences of importation, possession, possession with intent to supply and trafficking in marijuana on March 30.

Customs officials searching Brown’s luggage after she arrived in Barbados from New York, discovered 25 plastic wrappings with vegetable matter. The drugs were seized and she was detained and handed over to police. During police investigations she denied knowledge of the illegal substance which weighed 12.15 kilogrammes and had an estimated street value of $97 200.

Spencer also arrived in the country on the same day. A search of her luggage found 24 wrapped, sealed packages containing vegetable matter. She too denied knowledge of the drugs which weighed 11.80 kilogrammes and had an estimated street value of $94 400.

In mitigating on their behalf attorney-at-law Shadia Simpson told Chief Magistrate Weekes her clients, while they were couriers of the drug, were not the mastermind of the enterprise.

The defence counsel also submitted that the illegal substance which was intended for the streets of Barbados had been confiscated and no longer posed a threat. She explained that there was also no profit derived from the sale of the drugs.

Also going in her clients’ favour, she said, was the fact that they had pleaded guilty to the crimes, cooperated with police, were contrite and remorseful and were not known to the courts here or elsewhere.

“They recognize that it was a poor decision on their part. Oftentimes you see young women . . . I guess because of their socio economic background they are seduced and sometimes even coerced into taking these particular actions. But nonetheless, I believe that having been at prison for the last two to three weeks they have had a sobering experience and they understand the gravity of the offence that they committed against our country,” Simpson stated.

She said given the circumstances the court could sentence the two to pay a fine for their individual crimes. She further submitted that based on their means a fine in the region of $15 000 could be imposed and would meet the justice of the case. She however asked for time for the sum to be paid.

“My concern is what message we send in these circumstances. It is very important that persons not be allowed to continue to raise the issue of their circumstances in life and I say that without any reservation.

“In Caribbean societies the majority of persons who reach the top of their professions are from humble working-class backgrounds and education would have been the only way to get them to where they are.

“So the question is, do we have society which supports the dint of hard work . . . or do we support a society which says quick action and quick gain are what we want our young people to see,” Weekes stated as the young women disclosed that one had a Jamaican father and the other a Trinidadian mother.

“We must remove any thought that because we are poor or we come from difficult circumstances that we can’t make it to the top by the dint of hard work. Opportunities will always come and the devil is always at play. Quick opportunities to make quick bucks will always lead to problems . . . You always run the risk of being caught.”

The judicial officer said he appreciated the fact that the women took responsibility for their actions and the drugs were off the streets and therefore could not cause “untold destruction to our race”. The quantum of the drugs was also a concern, Magistrate Weekes added.

“These two young ladies should have processed and should have recognized the magnitude of this potential problem on our society. . .

“The court must not send a message that those who seek to do the devil’s work should be accommodated,” Chief Magistrate Weekes said as he adjourned the case until tomorrow for sentencing.

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A state attorney believes that a St Peter man who stole a top up machine and cash belonging to a telecommunications company over six years ago should spend time behind bars for the crime.

However, in his submissions on sentencing Anderson Glenroy Gibbons, of Church Street, Speightstown told Madam Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell that the sentence is “up to you ma’am”.

Crown Counsel Kevin Forde and the convicted man made the submissions on sentencing before the No. 4 Supreme Court on Wednesday. However, Gibbons will have to wait until June 3 to know his fate.

Gibbons had previously admitted that he and another person had stolen the $24 000 machine and $1 230 cash belonging to Cable and Wireless Limited between July 15 and 16, 2015.

“I beg the court for leniency. I was on cocaine and my mother passed away. Yes I did wrong and I beg for the court’s mercy,” Gibson, who is known to the court, pleaded.

His criminal record revealed that he has ten prior convictions including one for handling stolen property; two for possession of apparatus for the misuse of illegal drugs; one for theft; four for burglary and one for robbery.

Forde, in his submissions, told the High Court Judge that the offence required a custodial sentence being imposed.

He pointed to several aggravating factors of the crime among them the seriousness of the offence, the prevalence of such offences in society; the value of the items; the impact the crime had on the business and the fact that it was “premeditated and deliberate”.

Mitigating, he said, was Gibbons’ guilty plea but going against him was the fact that he had ten prior convictions the majority of which were for similar offences. He said the convict was also assessed at being at a high risk of re-offending.

The prosecutor said a starting sentence of two years in prison should be imposed. He further submitted that given that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors, the starting point should be adjusted upwards by three years, taking it to five years.

However, Forde said that Gibbons should be credited with the one third discount for his guilty plea and for the time that he had spent on remand at Dodds.

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A High Court judge on Friday expressed the hope that convicted gun offenders would someday confess about where they get their illegal weapons from.

As he ordered Zareq Amir Pierre Grant, of Farm Path, Hillaby, St Thomas, to pay a total of $26 000 in fines for possession of a .38 calibre revolver and one round of ammunition, Justice Christopher Birch said he was puzzled about where the guns were coming from and how they were getting into people’s hands.

“I cannot ever seem to get a single firearm accused to stand up at the dock and tell me where it came from, who he got it from and that is a factor that we dare not overlook,” he said.

“But one of these days, rest assured, one of the questions you will be asked along the way will be . . . . Where did you get it from? And if the answer is not forthcoming in an honest manner, it is going to be something that will be taken into consideration,” Justice Birch added.

He also dismissed the belief that first-time gun offenders will get automatic non-custodial sentences from the courts.

“I think we need to be very careful as we deal with these matters, because there seems to be a growing sense out there [that if] you get caught with the firearm once, if you get caught with ammunition once, it is automatic that a non-custodial sentence will come down the pipe. That is a fallacy and I want to make that abundantly clear to everyone in this country because it depends on the circumstances,” the judge explained.

In Grant’s case, police executed a search warrant at his residence on September 11, 2017.

Officers went to a bedroom which the then 18-year-old identified as his, Senior Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas told the court, and Grant pointed lawmen to a chest of drawers where a plastic bag was found. The bag was examined and found to contain marijuana and a bullet, and during a further search, the gun was found in the same area.

“I would just like to ask for forgiveness for the mistake I made in the past. Sitting down listening to the prosecutor reading it out, it feels like I am experiencing the nightmare over again, and whatever consequences that I might face I ask you to be as lenient as possible,” Grant told Justice Birch on Friday in Supreme Court No 5a.

Thomas and defence attorney Angella Mitchell-Gittens made submissions on sentencing and agreed that a fine would match Grant’s crime, given that the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating ones.

While Justice Birch accepted the submissions, he did have some concerns.

He pointed out that Grant was not like the usual set of accused who came before the court on such matters.

“I normally hear about broken homes, I normally hear about educational challenges, financial handicaps, and dysfunctional families. . . . Much has been given to you – home, stable family, roof over your head, [and] a superior education . . . ,” the judge said.

“Yes, I heard what a good boy you were, what a good man you are, but my query is, does a good boy or a good man obtain narcotics, a firearm and ammunition and keep at home where his loving family are . . . ?

“One thing you do have in common with everybody who [appears] in court is that you want to do wrong but then turn around when the vice starts to be turned and twisted and you want leniency, you want mercy . . . .”

Justice Birch highlighted that Grant had several factors going in his favour, including his “98 per cent” cooperation given to police and his previously clean record.

“But the mitigating factors still have to take into account the aggravation that you had a firearm – a tool that has one purpose and that is to main, disfigure, disable or deprive someone of their life.

“Based on what I heard of your upbringing, you were not in any danger. It wasn’t that you were on the front line of a battle; it was not that you were a member of the uniform or security services. So what right did you have with a firearm? Even that one round of ammunition in that firearm, [fired] at somebody accurately, takes away their fundamental right to life.”

The illegal gun and ammunition no longer being on the streets was a good thing, the judge added.

“ . . . But here is where the two per cent comes in. You cooperated with the police, you wrote your statement. I see nowhere in the file where you indicated, even now, where you got it [the gun] from, and that’s a serious thing because it is not a case where you found it lying by the side of the road, I am sure,” he said.

Grant was fined $25 000 to be paid in six months for the gun possession, with the alternative of four years in prison. For the bullet, he was ordered to pay $1 000 in six months or spend one year in jail. Both prison terms would run concurrently.

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Fines totalling $14 000 were imposed on 19-year-old Ranaldo Narico Roberts on Friday for having an illegal gun and ammunition.

Justice Randall Worrell passed judgement on the Factory Avenue, Wildey, St Michael resident who had pleaded guilty in the No. 2 Supreme Court to having a .380 auto calibre pistol and six rounds of ammunition in his possession on February 22, 2021.

He was initially sentenced to pay $20 000 for the possession of the illegal firearm and $8 000 for the ammunition, but after taking into consideration the mitigating and aggravating factors of his offence and of him as an offender, as well as the 422 days he had spent on remand at Dodds, the judge ordered Roberts to pay $10 000 in six months for the firearm and $4 000 forthwith for the ammunition.

If he fails to pay the amount he will spend 673 days in prison, which is the remainder of a six-year starting sentence.

Officers were on mobile patrol in the young man’s community when they saw him operating a motorcycle with a pillion rider. On seeing the police, the pillion rider consistently tapped Roberts’ shoulder which caused lawmen to become suspicious. Roberts stopped the bike and the pillion rider ran off. As police approached the teenager, he too tried to run but was apprehended. He was seen fidgeting with his pants and that led police to conduct a search, during which the firearm was found.

Roberts said he found the loaded gun “down by the Errol Barrow Park”.

He was represented by attorney-at-law Simon Clarke. Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis prosecuted the case.

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Two American women who brought almost 24 kilos of marijuana through the Grantley Adams International Airport will spend the next 18 months behind bars here, after being unable to pay fines.

Drug couriers Brittany Georgina Brown, a 28-year-old medical assistant from Brooklyn, New York, and 20-year-old exotic dancer Samiyah Nicole Spencer, from West Chester, New York, were each ordered to pay $25 000 forthwith.

However, they were unable to pay up and Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes imposed the prison time as an alternative penalty.

The duo had pleaded guilty to separate charges of importation, for which they were fined. They were also accused of possession, possession with intent to supply and trafficking cannabis on March 30, but were convicted, reprimanded and discharged on those charges.

According to police, 25 plastic wrappings containing cannabis were discovered by Customs officials when Brown’s luggage was searched after she arrived in Barbados from New York. The illegal substance weighed 12.15 kilogrammes and had an estimated street value of $97 200.

Spencer arrived in the country on the same day and a search of her luggage uncovered 24 sealed packages containing marijuana. The contraband weighed 11.8 kilogrammes and had an estimated street value of $94 400.

The Americans were represented by attorney-at-law Shadia Simpson while Station Sergeant Crishna Graham and Sergeant Randolph Boyce were the prosecutors.

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Syberton Marcelle Miller, who fatally stabbed her husband back in 2018, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter before the High Court.

The plea was accepted by Senior Crown Counsel Neville Watson on Monday after the No. 3 Supreme Court heard details of a report on Miller’s mental health from consultant psychiatrist Dr Ermine Belle.

Miller, who is in her late 60s, admitted to killing her spouse between September 17 and 18, 2018. The body of 68-year-old Cecil Miller was discovered by police in the couple’s No. 92, 5th Avenue Rowans Park North, St George home.

Dr Belle told Justice Carlisle Greaves that Miller had been diagnosed with the treatable but lifelong illness of schizoaffective disorder.

“It means that at times she will present with features of schizophrenia as well as at other times presenting with mood changes which would be consistent with things like depression and being excitable; not necessarily hypomanic but being more excitable than normal and sometimes a mixed picture – both occurring at the same time,” explained Dr Belle who added that not taking medication would “absolutely” aggravate or exacerbate the disorder.

In response to questions from Miller’s attorney Arthur Holder, Dr Belle further disclosed that the only other condition which would have been prevailing was “her paranoid personality”.

“I think it was there from the time she presented to me. . . . She has always had a personality which dictated lack of trust, inability to believe in other persons, and this was particularly in connection with her family members.

“She could also have been said to be pathologically jealous, particularly in her marital situation. It means that this is something that is not consistent with the norm. It is something you would not expect in somebody who is functioning in the best mental health capacity,” the psychiatrist said.

Explaining the concept of diminished responsibility, Dr Belle added: “This would mean that in her situation at the time, she was not able to make an informed decision in the context of whatever was going on at that point in time . . . .”

The psychiatrist told the court she had last seen Miller in June of 2018 and she was on medication at that time.

“Her husband had advised that she was not doing well in that interim but he didn’t advise that she wasn’t taking her medication,” she stated.

Responding to a question from the prosecutor about the impact of any thoughts Miller might have had about her husband being unfaithful, Dr Belle said that would have “exacerbated her condition”.

“Depending on how ill she was at the time, it could be a fundamental problem in the way in which she perceived what was happening at that particular time,” she added.

Miller will be sentenced on May 27. Character witnesses are expected in court on that day to give evidence on her behalf.

Before that, by May 20, attorneys on both sides will submit to the court their written submissions on sentencing.

A report on the time Miller has spent on remand at Dodds is also to be submitted.

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The “substantial delay” in some criminal matters presents the law courts of Barbados with a “significant dilemma” when it comes to the issue of sentencing, Justice Carlisle Greaves has said.

The High Court Judge made the comments on Friday as he sentenced four men – to pay fines – for an over 11-year-old crime.

Sherwin Ambrose Brathwaite, of 1st Avenue Hoyte’s Village, St James; Akeem Jamal Alleyne, of Forde’s Tenantry, Silver Hill, Christ Church; along with Dwayne Ricardo Gibson and Devere George Junior Small, both of Silver Hill, Christ Church –  who had admitted to aggravated robbery now have until May 6 to each pay $5 000 fines.

The men pleaded guilty before the No. 3 Supreme Court to entering the Silver Fox Arcade, Christ Church as trespassers on January 13, 2011, and stealing $20 340 cash, an external hard drive and a power supply – with cash and items totaling $21 080 – belonging to Palace Amusements Limited.

They also previously admitted that on the same date they entered the arcade as trespassers and stole a cellular phone, a wallet and $450 case, totaling $700, property of Michael Bramble while carrying a firearm.

“The main concern in this case has been the substantial delay in bringing this case to trial. It has been 11 years, the delay in our court system is legendary. Justice is denied every day, both to those accused and to those who fall victim to crime in this society.

“A society which knows that criminal matters are going to be dealt with properly, and those who offend . . . receive the justice that they merit, becomes a confident society – the members of which cooperate [with] legal authorities when necessary. They will be less fearful when they are required to offer assistance to bring to justice those who should.”

The judge added that a society which had to dwell in “an environment of substantial delay”, while those whom they accuse are left to roam for long periods, begins to feel “unsafe and skittish and uncooperative”, with fear for their own welfare

“If a system is going to work properly for the benefit of all it must be speedy, efficient and just. When delay is as substantial as this it presents courts with a significant dilemma when it comes to the issue of sentencing,” he said.

Brathwaite was 28 years old at the time of the offence, Alleyne 20 and Gibson and Small both 21.

“People may do bad things sometimes in their lives and over the years thereafter, they might continue to do bad things; they might become worse or they might do no further bad things or they may become better. This matter is the argument being put by both sides in this case.

“These now convicted men when they were young committed a very serious offence, but the evidence tends to suggest that thereafter they appeared to be law-abiding citizens or at least there is no evidence to the contrary and they seem to have taken on some serious responsibility over the years to the benefit of themselves, their families and their country,” Justice Greaves pointed out after the men apologized for the crime.

Brathwaite told the No. 3 Supreme Court: “I am sorry . . . I was just misled and I just trying to correct myself.”

Alleyne said, “I am sorry for everything that happened” while Gibson addressed the judge saying, “I am sorry . . . I was young and stupid at the point. It was a stupid mistake.”

In his address Small said, “I am sorry to the court, sorry to the arcade . . .”

Justice Greaves then sentenced the men to pay the fines which must be settled in two weeks. However Alleyne’s attorneys Sade Harris and Michael Lashley Q.C., informed the court their client had $2 000. That amount was paid and the remainder must be settled in two weeks. Failure to pay the fines will result in an alternative sentence of two years in jail.

The men are to reappear before the judge on Friday, May 6 to show proof of payment.

Senior Crown Counsel Neville Watson, was the prosecutor in the matter while attorney-at-law Ajamu Boardi represented Gibson; Martie Garnes represented Brathwaite and Small had Myshak Thornhill as his lawyer.

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The three young people who killed Barbados Defence Force (BDF) Private David Blenman over five years ago are expected to be sentenced on May 13.

Justice Randall Worrell gave the date when they appeared before the No. 2 Supreme Court recently.

Jamar Antonio Pile, 30, his 25-year-old sister Faith Angelica Pile and her partner 24-year-old Shaquan Sherwin Omar Crichlow, all of Skeete’s Road, Jackmans, St Michael, previously pleaded guilty to the non-capital murder of the 26-year-old between November 30 and December 1, 2016.

Blenman’s nude body was discovered at Foul Bay Beach, St Philip around 5:45 a.m. on Thursday December 1.

Senior Crown Counsel Neville Watson who is the prosecutor in the matter had submitted that Jamar Pile and Crichlow be given life in prison while Faith Pile should get a starting sentence of 30 years in prison for the crime.

Queen’s Counsel Michael Lashley, who represents Jamar Pile, argued that his client did not deserve imprisonment for life. He indicated that a starting point of between 25 to 30 years was adequate.

Faith Pile’s attorney Angela Mitchell-Gittens suggested a starting point of between 15 to 30 years for her client while attorney-at-law Safiya Moore, who represents Crichlow, told the court her client did not deserve to be sentenced to life in prison.

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The naked body of the late Kimberley Hinds was discovered by her mother and sisters on the afternoon of March 17, 2013, following a telephone call from the young woman’s concerned landlord.

This evidence was revealed on Tuesday on day one of the murder trial of Conroy Anderson Ramsay, of Godding Road, Station Hill, St Michael who allegedly killed his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child.

Ramsay is accused of murdering the 24-year-old mother of two – a charge to which he pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned before Justice Randall Worrell commenced in the No. 2 Supreme Court.

One of the witnesses to give evidence before the jury of seven women and five men was Dwayne Skeete who went out with Hinds the night before she was found dead.

He said they were not in a relationship but she had invited him to a house party at Kirtons, St Philip which they attended for about three hours with two other friends.

Skeete said when they left the party, he and Hinds drove in separate cars to her house in Rock Hall, St Thomas where he spent about 45 minutes. During that time, they had a drink, talked and had sex.

Skeete said while they were being intimate, Hinds’ phone rang three times, sometime around 3:15 a.m. on March 17, 2013 . The first time, he said, she did not answer. She answered the second and third calls, but on that last call she put the phone on the side of the bed and they continued to have sex. Skeete said that move made him “uncomfortable”.

During that time, Skeete said he heard a noise which “made me uneasy” and he subsequently saw “a shadow” in the window, noting that while he knew it was a person he did not see anyone.

He told Hinds what he had seen and heard and, according to him, she put back on the dress she previously wore and went out on the patio. Skeete said he also got dressed and met Hinds by the front door and after a short conversation, he left.

“Everything was normal at the time,” Skeete said as he answered questions posed by Director of Public Prosecutions Queen’s Counsel Donna Babb-Agard who is prosecuting the case with Crown Counsel Kevin Forde.

Skeete said he arrived home between 3:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. During that time, he said, Hinds had messaged him around 3:45 a.m. He responded but there was no further message from Hinds.

He said that on reaching home, he saw “a scrawl” on his car which had not been there previously.

Another witness, Romeo Smith, Hinds’ landlord, testified that later that morning, he was having drinks with friends at a nearby shop when he saw the lights on outside the woman’s house around, “11 going 12” which he described as “unusual”.

“The lights don’t be on so late,” he told the court, adding that he went to the house, knocked and called for Hinds who he knew from a toddler but got no response. “That was unusual, so I called her mother.”

Smith said he then went home and returned sometime after 2 p.m. to open the house for the deceased’s mother, Vinette Hinds.

The mother also gave evidence today. She said after getting the call from Smith and being unable to reach her daughter, the last of five children, she went to the house.

“When I get to the house, I saw her car was there and the outside light was on. I knocked and I didn’t hear her,” said the mother who added that one of her other daughters also tried to look through a window but did not see anything. She then called Smith to open the house.

“When I open the curtain, my daughter was lying on the front mat . . . . The residence was very disturbed, the furniture was scattered all over the house . . . black stuff on the floor and she lying naked on the floor,” the emotional woman recalled. The mother said she subsequently called the police and “closed the door and sat in the gallery in a chair”.

She described her daughter’s relationship with Ramsay as a “rocky, on-and-off thing” in which they did “a lot of bickering”.

Katrina Hinds also said her deceased sister’s relationship with Ramsay was “not a peaceful” one as they were always arguing.

She said when she went into the house with her mother, her sister was on the ground on her back and she saw, among other things, scratches on her knee.

“I remember shouting for her . . . standing over her calling her name . . . . It was very emotional,” she added.

The sister and landlord both stated that Ramsay previously resided with the deceased at the rented property.

Smith said: “He lived in and out. Sometimes he there, sometimes you miss he . . . . He wasn’t there regularly.”

Also giving evidence was retired Sergeant Jerry Boyce who told the court that sometime after 7 a.m. on March 17, 2013 Ramsay went to Holetown Police Station asking for a police escort to the home of his ex-girlfriend to collect his belongings.   

When they arrived at the residence to which the accused directed them, “The house was closed”. Former officer Boyce said he entered the gallery, called out several times and  knocked on the door, but got no response and informed Ramsay that he would have to return later. The officer also testified that the accused, who had driven to the location in his own car “appeared calm to me.”

State witnesses will continue giving evidence in Ramsay’s murder trial on Wednesday. He is being represented by attorney-at-law Angella Mitchell-Gittens.

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A 29-year-old man who gave police a fake name has been jailed for six months for burglary.

Brandon Keron Akeem Coward, said to have no fixed place of abode, had appeared before Magistrate Kim Butcher on Monday under the name Brandon Akeem Boyce.

He was remanded overnight after he had asked for the court’s help, following his guilty plea to the charge of entering the home of Junior Arlington Thomas as a trespasser on April 21 and stealing $418.75 in items, including two watches, a small bottle of perfume and three separate money bags containing a total of $98.75.

However, when he reappeared before Magistrate Butcher in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday afternoon, prosecuting officer Ralph Rollock disclosed that the name on the charge sheet was not the man’s real name and that he had three different names.

Constable Rollock disclosed that his real name was Brandon Keron Akeem Coward and not only did he have criminal convictions but he was recently released from prison.

“Information received this morning is that his mother said that she is not coming to the court. This court was inclined yesterday to grant [him] an opportunity to have some kind of counselling bearing in mind that we believed that he needed assistance, he needed help . . . .

“All of this time, Mr Boyce is operating under false names. . . . This kind of behaviour the court must frown upon,” Rollock said as he asked for an amendment to the charge sheet to reflect the convict’s real name, and that he be sentenced accordingly.

Magistrate Butcher then asked the burglar his name, to which he replied, “Brandon Coward”.

Asked why he lied to the police, Coward responded: “I was in the police station for five days. Every time I go to prison, even when I went prison up to last night them try to put something in my food and then they try to say I crazy, all those sort of things, torture me, beat me, all dem sort of things, then send me to the mental. Dem is de tings they does do, Ma’am.

“Everybody up there against me and these wardens know that too. They had to remove me from off of three blocks already and put me pun security. The man that in charge of security turn round and say he ain’t want me on security. They targeting me, this body threatening me, this body saying I crazy,” Coward said before he was sentenced for his crime.

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Dario Omar Catlyn pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Friday, 13 years after being involved in a crime that led to the death of 62-year-old Rudolph Knight.

The St George resident had been facing a murder charge but Senior Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas accepted his manslaughter plea on the basis that there was “no intention to kill”.

Knight, of Blackmans Tenantry, St Joseph, died of head injuries on April 10, 2009, a week after being ambushed as he walked along a cart road in his community.

The prosecutor said Knight was carrying` wages as he walked along Goat Hill, Blackmans around 6 p.m. when he was attacked by two 19-year-olds – Rachad Akeil Leroy Holder of Orange Grove, St Joseph who previously pleaded guilty to the crime, and Catlyn. He was subsequently discovered in the track by a group of boys who alerted others in the community and police and medical services were contacted.

Catlyn, alias ‘Rich Boy’, gave police a written statement on October 13, 2011, after a friend he had confided in about the attack informed police.

In his statement, he said he was walking towards Blackmans Corner when he saw Holder, known as ‘Bow Foot’, coming towards him. After speaking with him, Catlyn said he went to Holder’s house and they then went back on the road.

He said when they got by the corner they saw Knight walking in front of them.

“Bow Foot said ‘come let we go for he because he does got nuff money on he’. Bow Foot walk off fast in front of me and I was still taking my time,” said Catlyn who added that Knight then went through a track.

“Bow Foot went through the track after he and when they were a little ways long the track Bow Foot start to cuff the man about his upper body and treat he ruff with real anger. Bow Foot took up something from the ground and started to beat the old man with it. I get frighten and run and went home. The next few days I hear de man dead.”

A post-mortem showed Knight’s death was due to severe traumatic head injury.

Following the revelation of the facts in court, Catlyn’s attorney Angella Mitchell-Gittens noted that her client had spent eight years on remand in connection with the crime.

She asked that he be granted personal bail as the state was not seeking further incarceration. The request was granted and the convicted man’s surety was relieved of that duty.

A presentencing report has been ordered on the convicted man who returns before Justice Randall Worrell’s No. 2 Supreme Court on June 17.

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A man who pleaded guilty to gun and ammunition charges before the High Court has been told that any fine imposed on him will be hefty.

Justice Randall Worrell was speaking to Pierre Decarlo Small of #1 Mullion Lane, Gall Hill, Christ Church, after he admitted to possession of a 9mm calibre semi-automatic pistol and 25 rounds of ammunition without a valid licence on September 13, 2017.

A presentencing report has been ordered on his life in preparation for sentencing.

Justice Worrell, presiding over the No. 2 Supreme Court, told Small that the prosecution and the defence had to make submissions on sentencing.

But he warned that if the court was mindful of imposing a fine it would not be any “five cents or ten cents or $5 000 or $10 000” for that type of gun and that amount of ammunition.

Small, who is represented by attorney-at-law Mohia Ma’at, will reappear before the court on May 6 when prosecutor Romario Straker is expected to read in the facts of the matter and an officer from the Police Records Department will disclose if he has any antecedents.

The presentencing report is expected before the court on June 17.

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An adjournment has been given in the trial of Conroy Anderson Ramsay who is accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend nine years ago.

Hearing of the matter will resume next Tuesday before Justice Randall Worrell and a 12-member jury.

When the case against the Godding Road, Station Hill, St Michael resident was called on Friday, his attorney Angella Mitchell-Gittens informed the No. 2 Supreme Court that Ramsay had made an appearance in court in the morning but was exhibiting flu-like symptoms and had gone to get tested.

She then requested the adjournment which was granted by the judge.

Ramsay is charged with killing 24-year-old Kimberley Hinds, the mother of his child, on March 17, 2013.

Evidence already given in the case revealed that Hinds’ naked body was discovered on the floor of her living room by her mother and sisters that afternoon.

Lead investigator Inspector Winston Goddard told the court on Wednesday that Ramsay, who voluntarily turned himself into police the following day, had said that he and Hinds were arguing and fighting at her Rock Hall, St Thomas House in the wee hours of March 17.

“I went up there to talk to her and things went bad and we end up fighting and she hit her head on the ground and I get frighten and I left,” he told police.

Director of Public Prosecutions Donna Babb-Agard Q.C. is prosecuting the case along with Crown Counsel Kevin Forde.

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