Killer jailed for 38 years

That is what the killer of the cousin of Barbadian National Hero Rihanna got when he reappeared in the No. 4 Supreme Court yesterday.

The judge further chastised Shawayne Dashawn Williams’ mother, as she called her credibility into account.

Williams, of Whitehall No. 1, St Michael, was found guilty of murdering Tavon Alleyne on December 26, 2017.

He was represented by Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens, while Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale, SC, State Counsel Paul Prescod and Senior State Counsel Anastacia McMeo-Boyce prosecuted.

Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell, in referring to Williams’ pre-sentencing report, noted his mother had described him as “respectful and obedient” when he was young, but said he became involved in conflicts in his late teens when they moved to Eden Lodge, St Michael.

The mother attributed this to jealousy because he had motorcycles.

“She indicated that she was not aware that he smoked marijuana and could not recall him being affiliated with gangs or negative peer influences,” the judge noted.

“While the court notes the comments of the mother, the court is of the view that her comments carry little weight as the court is aware, having dealt with a bail application, that she had filed a complaint at the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court against [Williams] who she alleged discharged a firearm at her whilst she was at her residence, after a disagreement between the two of them,” Justice Smith-Bovell said, adding Williams’ sister also gave a similar statement.

“The court is also aware that the mother subsequently withdrew her complaint and signed a statement months later saying that she had wrongfully accused her son and was hasty in going to the police.

“A mother, who would wrongfully accuse her child on so serious a charge where she would have known, as a prison officer, it would mean immediate remand, has no credibility in the view of the court. If she retracted her statement to prevent his prosecution, having recognised the seriousness of the charge, her statement also makes a lie of him not being violent and not having access to guns,” she said.

Element of premeditation

The judge added the case had clearly crossed the threshold for the imposition of a custodial sentence.

She said she had considered the facts, the aggravating and mitigating factors and submissions on sentence from both senior counsel.

Justice Smith-Bovell also considered there was some element of premeditation and planning, as Williams went to the area armed with a firearm.

She said there had to be “some form of communication with someone else for him to have known to be present in the area at the same time the deceased was arriving in the taxi”.

Alleyne, she pointed out, was ambushed and unarmed and the shooting appeared to be in retaliation for Williams being shot by someone else.

In addition, the judge said the firearm was not recovered and the offence was committed in public, placing members of society, especially those at the house and the taxi driver, at risk of serious injury.

As a result, she determined that 39 years was the appropriate starting point for Williams’ sentence.

Justice Smith-Bovell said she also considered Williams’ previous convictions for serious bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

She then increased the starting point by two years, to 41 years, for the aggravating factors, deducted six months for delay and credited him for the 774 days he spent on remand.

In the end, the judge ordered Williams to serve 38 years, 138 days for the offence.

She further ordered him to enrol in any programmes which would develop basic academic and vocational skills to allow him to reintegrate into society; to enrol in any psychotherapeutic rehabilitative programmes deemed as necessary by the psychologist and/or psychiatrist and in any other programmes that were deemed necessary by the psychologist or the prison authorities for his rehabilitation.

The court had heard that Alleyne arrived in Eden Lodge in a taxi which stopped on the main road at the front of a woman’s house.

As he was getting out, gunshots rang out. When they ended, Alleyne lay on the ground with a number of gunshots to his body.

A woman, who heard the shots and footsteps, ran and looked over her paling and saw a man running away.

She recognised the way the man ran and identified him as Williams. She revealed she knew him from when he was child and knew how he ran from watching him play football.

Alleyne died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The pathologist later determined the cause of death was haemorrhagic shock, secondary to multiple gunshot wounds. (HLE)