Sevana satisfied with sentence in dangerous driving case
Published:Friday | November 18, 2022 | 12:11 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The attorney representing Anna-Sharé Blake – more popularly known as reggae singer Sevana – said he and his client are satisfied with the sentence of $300,000 or two years’ imprisonment handed down by a judge on Thursday in a death-by-dangerous-driving case.
Attorney Everton Dewar said that Blake is deeply saddened by the accident, which led to the death of 32-year-old Ordia Cordiel seven months ago.
She had pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving on October 31.
“She is sorry for what transpired and she apologised to the deceased’s family. We hope an incident like that never happened, but it did, and we just have to move on from there,” Dewar said of the deadly accident in Whitehouse.
In delivering the sentence in the Westmoreland Circuit Court on Thursday, Justice Courtney Daye also ordered the suspension of the entertainer’s driver’s licence for two years.
Justice Daye said he did not have adequate information to apply the weight of the law against Blake, who had reportedly hosted a party in the deceased woman’s community, where she had a rift with her family.
He also noted that the sentence had to consider that Blake also pleaded guilty to the charge.
On May 25 this year, Blake was travelling along the Scott Cove main road in Whitehouse, Westmoreland, when the Honda City motor car she was driving collided with a Honda Fit heading in the opposite direction.
Cordiel, who was a passenger in the Honda Fit, sustained severe injuries and was admitted to the Black River Hospital, where she died on May 30.
Blake was arrested and charged on June 1.
“The mitigation worked out well. It actually worked out as we wanted it to ... and I think that’s in the best interest of all the parties, to save the court’s time, energy, and cost,” attorney Dewar said following the sentencing.
Justice Daye suggested that Blake will need some level of counselling and her lawyer noted that the suggestion was not unfounded.
“The truth is that whether it is Miss Blake or someone else who had met in an accident and someone had died, that person definitely would need some form of counselling for their mental stability to be back up where it should. I don’t believe hers is back up as yet, but it will get there soon,” Dewar said.
In relation to her music career, Dewar said he is unsure of exactly what lies ahead for the reggae singer.
“Well, we are not sure where she will go next, but she just wants to get over this. I think it will take some time. I think we just need to put it behind her, and then she will move forward,” he said.
Blake’s music career began blossoming in 2008 when she entered Digicel Rising Stars as part of the girl group SLR. The trio placed third in the contest, and when the group fell apart the following year, Sevana took a break from music.
Protoje later signed her under his In.Digg.Nation Collective label, but she has since severed ties with the entity.
She released her eponymous EP in 2016.
In July, Sevana released If You Only Knew, the first single on her second EP, which is titled Be Somebody, as her major label debut.