Jamelia Leslie, 28, and her brother Javone Leslie, who were sentenced to a combined 88 years in prison in 2019 for the murder of a mother and her two young children in Mavis Bank, St Andrew, have had their parole eligibility adjusted by the Court of Appeal. Originally sentenced to serve 36 years before parole eligibility, the recent 2-1 majority decision ruled that the siblings will now be eligible for parole after serving 22 years for the mother's killing and 28 years and nine months for the children's slaying.

Siblings in Mavis Bank triple murder get reprieve

Sentence reduced by eight years for killing mother and two children

Jamaica Gleaner/5 Jan 2024/Livern Barrett/Gleaner Writer 

A PAIR of siblings who killed a mother and her two young children before setting fire to their Mavis Bank, St Andrew home will be eligible to leave prison eight years earlier after the Court of Appeal adjusted their sentence.

Jamelia Leslie, 28, and her brother Javone Leslie, were each sentenced in 2019 to a total of 88 years in prison after they pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and a single count of arson for the deadly attack – motivated by jealousy – on Kashief Jackson and her two children, in July 2018.

The slain children, Aviere Williams and Aranza Williams, were seven days and 23 months old, respectively at the time.

Their father, who was Jackson’s live-in partner, was also involved in an intimate relationship with Jamelia Leslie, he admitted to investigators.

The Leslie siblings were each given three life sentences for the killings and ordered to serve 36 years for Jackson’s slaying and 21 years for each of the two young children before they were eligible for parole. They were also handed a 10-year prison sentence for arson.

But Justice Lorna Shelly-Williams, the judge who presided over their trial, ordered that the sentences should be served concurrently, meaning the siblings would be eligible for parole after serving 36 years.

“I think it’s one of the worst I have ever seen, not only since I have been on the bench [when she became a judge], but since I started my legal career,” Shelly Williams said as she imposed the sentences.

2-1 MAJORITY DECISION

However, while affirming the life sentences and the heinous nature of the crime, a panel of three Appeal Court judges ordered – by a recent 2-1 majority decision – that the siblings should serve 22 years for Jackson’s killing before they are eligible for parole, nixing the 36 years imposed by Shelly-Williams.

Justice Marcia Dunbar-Green was the dissenting voice.

Conversely, the country’s secondhighest court ordered that seven years be added to the punishment imposed for the slaying of the two young children, moving the parole eligibility period from 21 years to 28 years and nine months.

“It is difficult to find adequate words to describe the events of 18 July 2018. This was a horrifying incident that ended with three lives lost in what must have been terrifying circumstances for the now deceased,” said Justice Nicole Foster Pusey, who wrote the majority decision.

The other Appeal Court judge, Justice Frank Williams, agreed with Foster Pusey’s decision.

The ruling means the siblings, who began their sentence in June 2019, can apply for parole after almost 29 years behind bars.

The Appeal Court judges, in explaining their decision, agreed with prosecutors that Shelly-Williams erred in her approach to sentencing when she used a starting point of 50 years for Jackson’s killing.

“In light of the erroneous approach, it is therefore necessary to carry out a fresh sentencing exercise,” they wrote.

Jamelia and Javone both challenged their sentences before the Court of Appeal, arguing that the punishment imposed by Shelly-Williams was “harsh”, “excessive” and could not be justified.

Javone argued, in his grounds of appeal, that the court did not temper justice with mercy as, among other things, his guilty plea was not taken into consideration by Shelly-Williams, according to a transcript of the Court of Appeal hearing.

SOCIAL ENQUIRY REPORT

Jamelia argued, among other things, that Shelly-Williams should have taken “the emotional trauma I suffered into consideration” as well as the contents of the social enquiry report produced by probation officers.

She acknowledged in the social enquiry report that the father of the slain children had been having problems in their relationship because of his then ongoing relationship with Jackson, something he kept denying.

Jamelia Leslie admitted to probation officers that she had been frustrated with the ongoing situation and had been taunted by community members about the outright infidelity of her ‘spouse’, the court transcript revealed.

In a detailed account of the killings, she said she and her brother went to Jackson’s house in search of her spouse and, instead, found the mother of two sleeping.

Jamelia Leslie confessed that she used a knife she found in the house to stab Jackson “at a point” below the waist, triggering a fight between the two.

She said Javone suggested that she cut Jackson’s throat and that she hesitated before her sibling took the knife from her and stabbed Jackson in the throat “while she looked away”.

Jamelia said she took the children from the bed, placed the younger one in a bath that was filled with clothes and the other on the floor to sit and told her brother to set the mattress afire.

“Miss Leslie expressed remorse and admitted that her anger blinded her,” the court transcript said, citing the social enquiry report.

Javone expressed “disgust” at his role in the killings and said, if he could turn back the hands of time, he would have tried to dissuade his sister from going to Jackson’s home that night.

A post-mortem revealed that Jackson’s body was found on the floor in a bedroom with multiple sharp force injuries to her neck and trachea.

She also had soot in her mouth and multiple non-fatal sharp force injuries to the face, torso and the upper limbs.

The presence of soot in the airway, along with carbon monoxide in the blood, infers that she was alive at the start of the fire, the court transcript said, quoting from the post-mortem report.

“Death is due to sharp force injuries of the neck and smoke inhalation.”

Aviere was found on a bedroom floor while Aranza was found in a bath pan on top of some items of clothing, also in the bedroom.

They were both covered with soot, which was also inside their mouths, stomachs and airways, but there was no obvious external trauma to their bodies, their respective post-mortems revealed.

“Death for both children was due to smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide toxicity,” the report concluded.

For feedback: contact the Editorial Department at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com.