Mixed feelings for Sevana after sentencing

Reggae singer Sevana, who pleaded guilty to a charge of death by dangerous driving and was given a $300,000 fine or two years in prison, is reportedly feeling good about the outcome of the sentencing, but bad about the incident, and is taking time to heal.

Sevana, whose real name is Anna Blake, was charged following an accident in May 2021 which took the life of 32-year-old Ordia Cordiel. The police report that Sevana was travelling along the Scott’s Cove main road in Whitehouse, Westmoreland when the Honda City motor car she was driving collided with a Honda Fit going in the opposite direction. Cordiel, who was a passenger in the Honda Fit, sustained severe injuries and was admitted to the Black River Hospital. She died on May 30. The police charged Sevana on June 1.

Her lawyer, Everton Dewar, expanded on Sevana’s mixed feelings. “She is feeling good now that this [court case] is behind her, but she is feeling sorry for the family of the deceased,” Dewar said.

Sevana, whose driver’s licence has been suspended for two years, had her sentence handed down in the Westmoreland Circuit Court by Justice Courtney Daye on Thursday morning. Dewar said that the case has taken a toll on his client, and pointed out that her brother was also seriously injured in the accident, “but he is in a better place now”.

“She has been affected mentally, physically and financially. She felt like a big stick has been hanging over her head and now she needs time to get back to her creativity,” the attorney stated.

A source explained that, in determining a non-custodial sentence, the court “took into consideration similar cases, the social enquiry report, the fact that Sevana’s lawyer entered a guilty plea and requests for leniency from her family members and a lot of artistes in the entertainment industry”.

The $300,000 fine, as is customary, will be paid over to the government’s Accountant General’s Department and not the family of Ordia Cordiel.

Sevana’s lawyer said he “could not speak to a civil suit” at this time, but he had discussed at length all the possible outcomes of the case.

The case was put together by Corporal Ranado Richards, who is attached to the Whitehouse Police Station and the sub officer in charge of traffic for Whitehouse and Bluefields.

Westmoreland-born Sevana first came to prominence in 2008 when she entered Digicel Rising Stars as part of the girl group SLR. They placed third. SLR broke up the following year and Sevana went on a hiatus from music.

In 2014, she resumed writing and performing and was featured on reggae singer Protoje’s single Sudden Flight, on his album Ancient Future. She also began to regularly appear with his band, Indiggnation, in live performances, and later toured with them in July 2015. Protoje signed Sevana under his In.Digg.Nation Collective label, but she has since severed ties amicably 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, Be Somebody. It was her major label debut.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com