Gun crime offenders urged to seek lesser sentences by assisting the police

Senior Deputy Director of Prosecutions Andrea Martin-Swaby is reminding the public, specifically offenders in gun crimes, that they can obtain a sentence below the mandatory minimum of 15 to 20 years, if they assist the police in a “meaningful way”.

Speaking during the opening of the Home Circuit Court Easter Term on Wednesday, the senior prosecutor said that though the new Firearms Act was passed in November 2022 with the important provision, “it is sometimes lost on the people of Jamaica”.

“Under the legislation, if you assist law enforcement in a meaningful way, the sentence can go below the mandatory minimum, and I think the office wants to highlight that because assistance doesn’t really mean that you come and give evidence or you choose to go that route, but assistance can be that you help the police to get rid of the guns off the street.

“If you help law enforcement in a meaningful way then we can entertain negotiation of sentencing as well as plea negotiation,” Martin-Swaby said.

Win-win situation

She then implored members of the private Bar to have those frank discussions with their clients

“It’s a win-win situation,” she stressed while highlighting that since the passage of the new legislation, the Gun Court had not been getting many guilty pleas.

“Maybe it is that persons are not aware that if it is that they assist, then their sentence can be reduced,” she added.

Further to that, Martin-Swaby also reminded persons that early guilty pleas for all sentences generally attract reduction.

Her pronouncements came as she was highlighting the list of tools available to the prosecution and the defence in dealing with the vast number of cases before the court.

Also at their disposal, she said, is the provision for both parties to agree on documents and to engage in plea bargains to get cases disposed of more quickly.

Rape, crimes against children

In the meantime, Martin-Swaby, while giving a breakdown of the number of cases listed for the term, noted that rape and crimes against children are at an alarming high. On the list prepared by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, there were 210 rape cases.

The Easter Term, however, opened with 924 cases, with a significant majority of the matters, 824, accounting for matters that were transferred from the previous Hillary Term.

Of the total, murder continues to dominate the court list, with 339 being traversed matters and 33 new committal cases.

The trend also continues with sexual offences being the second most prevalent, with 484 traversed cases and 35 new committals.

Rape accounts for the majority of sex crimes, with 210, including 21 new cases, followed by sexual intercourse with a person under 16 at 158, of which seven are new matters. There were also 36 cases of grievous sexual assault and 27 cases of buggery.

Among the list of cases for this term were also 20 sentencing matters and two cases that were transferred from St Elizabeth.

Although the task of clearing the list may be daunting, Martin-Swaby emphasised that the greatest resource that is available in the justice system are human resources. She then credited all the stakeholders while thanking the court reporters, court registrars, prosecutors, members of the private Bar, witnesses, jurors, and the police.

Singling out the jurors, she encouraged the people of Jamaica to serve when they are called upon to serve and not to shy away from jury duty.

“Oftentimes, when anything happens, the people say, ‘We want justice’, but the truth is the justice system wants them to be able to dispense with justice,” Martin-Swaby asserted.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com