Two men from Valencia, who admitted to brutally killing a neighbour and disposing of his body after he threatened one of them, have each been sentenced to a little over 14 years in prison for manslaughter.
However, Franklyn “Barney” Julien, 34, and 31-year-old Alister “Star” Ferdinand are expected to be released in almost three months as they already served the majority of their sentence while on remand.
Julien and Ferdinand were initially charged with murdering Orondel “Half-a-Man” Reyes on an unknown date between September 16 and 29, 2009.
On Tuesday, they were allowed to plead guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter based on a plea agreement with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
In deciding on the appropriate sentence for the duo, yesterday, Justice Ramsumair-Hinds went with the 24-year starting point suggested by their defence attorneys and prosecutors under the agreement.
She then applied two-year discounts based on the fact that both men had clean criminal records before being charged, cooperated with police upon their arrests, and did not commit any disciplinary offences whilst on remand awaiting trial.
She also pointed out that Ferdinand was an orderly at the Maximum Security Prison (MSP) and was responsible for cleaning the airing area.
“It shows that within the system that you can be trusted to have a bit of movement besides just passing time in a cell,” she said.
Justice Ramsumair-Hinds then deducted the time they spent on remand from their sentences leaving them with a few months to serve before their release.
In addressing both men, Justice Ramsumair-Hinds described Reyes’ killing as “horribly violent”.
She encouraged both men to be cautious and to avoid conflict.
The judge also encouraged Julien, who did not attend Secondary school and was illiterate when he entered the prison system, to continue to work on improving the reading and writing skills he developed in prison so he could attempt to obtain qualifications as an electrician upon his release.
“Nobody is taking a soft approach. We don’t lock away people and throw away the keys,” she said.
According to the facts used for the agreement, Reyes was found in a shallow grave off Nicholas Trace in Valencia days after he was reported missing.
A post-mortem revealed that Reyes had been chopped over two dozen times in his head.
When he was arrested by homicide detectives, Julien confessed.
He claimed that Reyes gave him $400 to start a fruit stall and punch business in their community.
Julien claimed that he repaid Reyes with interest and on the day of the killing indicated that he wanted to end the partnership. However, he claimed Reyes drew a firearm and threatened to kill him. He claimed that Ferdinand intervened and grabbed hold of Reyes while he went for the cutlass, which he used to chop Reyes several times.
Julien admitted he borrowed a garden fork and wheelbarrow from a neighbour and used both tools to transport Reyes’s body and bury it. He later confessed to killing Reyes to the neighbour who he had borrowed the tools from.
Other neighbours also witnessed the duo pushing the wheelbarrow to the location where Reyes was found buried.
Julien and Ferdinand were represented by Delicia Helwig-Robertson and Michelle Gonzales, of the Public Defenders’ Department. Charmaine Samuel and Gillana Guy represented the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).