Anwar Jack, a 26-year-old man who was last week Tuesday sentenced to 28 years, 8 months and 3 days in prison for murder, has appealed that sentence.
The appeal was filed this week by Jack’s Attorney- Grant Connell.
Connell said on Monday, that the sentence has been appealed on the grounds that it is too harsh in the circumstances.
Jack, a resident of Georgetown, who worked as Security Guard, had pleaded guilty to the murder of Spiritual Baptist Bishop, Ian Enoch, during a sitting of the High Court Criminal Assizes on November 9, but sentencing was postponed pending a Social Inquiry Report.
Based on the facts, Jack chopped Bishop Enoch to death at Argyle between August 16 and 17, 2018, after Jack became fed up of the repeated sexual abuse by the, who had, on the first occasion of a sexual encounter involving the two, drugged and buggered Jack, and subsequently took advantage of the youngster’s dire economic situation.
Following the sentencing of his client, Connell said , “We are in new territory when it comes to sentencing, and when it comes to the new guidelines issued by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
And we may and we have already seen the paradigm shift in the sentences being imposed.”
Connell added, “I know a lot of work has gone into the creation of these guidelines which has certainly taken into consideration the pillars of sentencing, but I am sure if there is to be any fine tuning, there will be. Nothing is perfect.”
Murder carries a maximum penalty of death by hanging, but that penalty was not requested by the Prosecution, neither was it considered by the Court.
Justice Brian Cottle did not use life imprisonment as a starting point, as Jack had pleaded guilty. He instead used a term of 40 years. He then concluded that the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating ones, and carried that sentence down to 31 years. But he deducted two years, three months, and 28 days for time spent on remand, arriving at the sentence of 28 years, 8 months, and 3 days.
Source : The Vincentian