Man loses appeal against sentence for attacking and shooting his sister

A man who kicked off the door to his sister's house in 2014 and shot her several times in the presence of her two young children is to serve 17 years' imprisonment for wounding with intent as the Court of Appeal has ruled that the sentence was not manifestly excessive.

Davion Scott, the appellant, was convicted in September 2016 of the two offences for which he was charged.

He was sentenced on October 31, 2016 to 10 years' imprisonment at hard labour for illegal possession of firearm and 17 years' imprisonment at hard labour for wounding with intent. The sentences were to run concurrently.

Scott appealed against his convictions and sentences but when the appeal came up for hearing in January, attorney-at-law Yushaine Morgan indicated that Scott had instructed him to abandon the appeal against the convictions.

He said Scott was only appealing the sentence in relation to the offence of wounding with intent on the basis that it was manifestly excessive.

The prosecution's case was that about 11:30 p.m. on April 1, 2014, the complainant and her two children were at home in Spanish Town, St Catherine, when she heard a banging on her door, which was then kicked off.

Scott, who is the brother of the complainant, entered her bedroom and shot her several times. She pretended to be dead and Scott then left the home. The complainant was taken to hospital where she was hospitalised for three months and had to wear a colostomy bag because of the gunshot injuries she received.

Scott had given an unsworn statement at his trial, denying that he shot his sister.

Morgan argued on appeal that the judge erred in not taking account of the applicant's good antecedent report as well as the favourable social enquiry report in granting a further reduction in sentence and that resulted in the sentence being manifestly excessive. 

Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Claudette Thompson and Crown Counsel Carolyn Wright argued that although the judge may not have abided by the general principles of sentencing, the sentence of 17 years was within the established range of sentences for the offence and was not manifestly excessive.

It was the court's finding that the judge, while acknowledging that the applicant had no previous convictions did not demonstrate how he used that as a mitigating factor along with the positive social enquiry report.

The Court of Appeal comprising Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop, Justice Nicole Simmons and Justice Lorna Shelly-Williams, said based on the aggravating factors, “we would add the prevalence of this type of offending in the parish of St Catherine in which the incident occurred. Based on the aggravating factor we would add seven years to the starting point, which brings us to a sentence of 24 years."

A deduction of two years was made by the court on account of the mitigating factors and a further reduction of three years spent in pre-sentence custody, reducing the sentence to 19 years.

The court then concluded that the sentence of 17 years' imprisonment for wounding with intent was not manifestly excessive. Scott was ordered to serve the 17 years for wounding with intent and both sentences are to run concurrently from October 31, 2016 when he was sentenced.

-Barbara Gayle

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