derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Two men, who admitted to murdering a plumber from Mayaro during a home invasion, almost two decades ago, have been sentenced to a little over 23 years in prison.
Jason Le Maitre and Sheldon “Shaka” Thomas were awaiting trial for murder for almost 17 years before they entered into a plea agreement with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to plead guilty under the felony murder rule in December, last year.
They were sentenced by High Court Judge Hayden St Clair-Douglas during a virtual hearing on Wednesday
In assessing the appropriate sentence for the duo, Justice St Clair-Douglas began with a starting point of 35 years.
After applying a one-third discount for their guilty pleas they were left with a sentence of 23 years and four months.
The duo are expected to be released in 5 years and five months’ time as the time they spent on remand before pleading guilty to the offence was deducted from their sentences. Le Maitre and Thomas were initially accused of murdering 29-year-old Anthony Lemessy on August 19, 2004.
Under the felony murder rule, which was applied in the duo’s case for them to plead guilty to the crime, the mandatory death penalty for murder is waived in circumstances where death results during the commission of a lesser criminal offence, which in most cases is robbery.
According to the summary of facts in the case, around 3.30 am, Lemessy’s grandmother Alma was awoken by banging on the back door of her bedroom.
Thinking it was the police, Alma opened the door and was greeted by two armed men, who began asking her about the whereabouts of her two sons and grandson.
Lemessy’s uncle Grell heard the commotion, grabbed a cutlass and went to investigate.
Grell was forced to drop the cutlass after they threatened him with their firearms. The men forced him to walk with them to Lemessy’s apartment at the back of the house, which he (Lemessy) shared with his common-law wife Natoya Jones.
The duo woke up the couple and demanded that Lemessy, who they referred to as “a pusher”, hand over his stash of drugs.
Lemessy denied having any drugs and gave the men $1,500. The men then searched the apartment and took Lemessy’s gold chain and cellphone. They then led Lemessy outside, forced him to kneel on the ground and shot him several times in his head before escaping.
Both men were arrested hours after the incident while travelling separately in Valencia and Manzanilla. Grell and Jones pointed out both men in identification parades and identified Lemessy’s gold chain which was found in Thomas’ possession.
Le Maitre was represented by Wayne Sturge and Danielle Rampersad, while Kelston Pope and Kimaada Ottley represented Thomas.
Maria Lyons-Edwards prosecuted the case.
