Prison sentences ranging from seven to 15 years were imposed yesterday on three schoolboys who had pleaded guilty last week to charges of murder and manslaughter.
Supreme Court judge Donald McIntosh, who was presiding in the St Ann Circuit Court, had put off sentencing to get social enquiry reports.
One of the schoolboys, Emanuel Newland, who is now 20 years old, had pleaded guilty to the murder of 74-year-old pensioner, Florist Clarke, of Brown’s Town, St Ann, in 2007.
The other two schoolboys, who are brothers, were sentenced in connection with the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Ferncourt High School student Gavon Jones in 2009. They had pleaded guilty to manslaughter. One was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, while the other was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Clarke was stabbed, beaten and her throat slashed on October 26, 2007 at her home in Brown’s Town.
Kill for money
Newland was charged jointly with another schoolboy and the deceased’s husband, 57-year-old Betram Clarke, for the murder. They pleaded not guilty and their trial is pending in the St Ann Circuit Court. It is being alleged that the husband hired the two schoolboys to murder his wife.
The Crown, represented by Claudette Thompson, assistant director of public prosecutions, and Adley Duncan, Crown Counsel, alleged that money was the motive for the murder because the deceased had a substantial amount of money and the husband was the beneficiary.
In the case of the two brothers, the court was told that they and the deceased Jones had a fight in St Ann’s Bay, St Ann, in October 2009.
Stabbing of jones
Shortly after the incident, the brothers were on the Ferncourt High School compound in St Ann when they again attacked Jones. He was stabbed twice and died shortly after.
Garfield Jones, 19, who attended the Ferncourt High School, was sentenced to seven years, while his brother, 18-year-old Demar Jones, who attended Marcus Garvey Technical High School, was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Demar had worn a Ferncourt High School crest on his shirt to gain entry to the school compound when the deceased was stabbed. The brothers are not related to the deceased.
Source-JA.Gleaner
