A sentence review of a man convicted of murdering two women when he was a teenager in 1994 is expected to take place early next year.
When Chuck Attin’s case came up for virtual hearing before High Court Judge Hayden St Clair-Douglas on Wednesday, several reports required for the sentence review were not yet available.
During the hearing, attorney Daniel Khan, who represented Attin previously, informed the court that he would have to liaise with the Public Defenders Department as it was representing him now.
The case was adjourned to January 26.
In 1997, Attin and Noel Seepersad were convicted of murdering 23-year-old Candice Scott and Karen Sa Gomes, 31, who were killed at Scott’s home in Westmoorings on July 11, 1994.
Seepersad was given the death penalty but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Attin, who was 16 years old at the time of the double murder, was held at the court’s pleasure and given a mandatory minimum term of 25 years in prison before he could be considered for release.
Attin appealed the sentence but the Court of Appeal ruled that it was not excessive considering the brutality of his crime.
During his last sentence review in 2015, Justice St Clair-Douglas ruled that Attin was not yet fit to be released.
“Clearly you have changed but the real question is by how much. By releasing a man with no life skills who engaged in a serious crime is not something any court can take lightly,” St Clair-Douglas said at the time.
He advised Attin to enrol in programmes while in prison to make it easier to reintegrate into society upon his eventual release.
At the time of his last review, Attin, now 42, had almost three years left to complete his minimum sentence. He has now exceeded it.
