2010 Charlestown hacking deaths…Killer gets 47 years

Mar 21, 2014 News

By Zena Henry
Forty-six-year-old William Lyte, the man who was accused of hacking two persons to death in Charlestown in 2010 was yesterday sentenced to 47 years imprisonment following a guilty plea to the lesser count of manslaughter at the High Court.
Lyte was sentenced to 21 years and another 26 years, for the deaths of Ann Chan-A- Koon, 38, and Cedric Blackman, 75, respectively. The sentences will run consecutively.

46-year-old
William Lyte

He pleaded guilty to the charge before Justice Navindra Singh who handed down the sentence to the accused following a probation report by agents of the government’s social service arm.
From the sentence, which the court commenced at 30 years, three years were taken off of each factor; time spent on remand, guilty plea, being remorseful and for the court finding favour in the probation report. Three years were however added to the sentence for the cruelty of the offence and the danger that was posed to the public. The court, in Blackman’s case, gave the accused a greater sentence, given the assistance that Blackman had rendered to the accused.
In October 2010, Lyte, while at Howes Street, Charlestown, hacked to death the two persons and injured two others who were at the time passersby in the area.
Blackman was said to be the husband of the accused man’s aunt, and according to the probation report, the incident stemmed from a broken promise over a piece of land that was promised to the accused by Blackman. Chan-A-Koon, according to reports, met her demise when she came onto the street to investigate the commotion.
The probation report showed that Blackman had promised the accused documentation for a piece of land at the said property which he (Blackman) owned in Charlestown. An argument ensued over the property and an incensed Lyte reportedly “tripped out”. The report continued that Lyte claimed to have used marijuana before the incident and “felt like a spirit” had gotten into him.
The probation officer’s report, which gave a synopsis of Lyte’s life, showed that Lyte never finished school and had no solid educational background. He grew up in a poor and unstable family. He had met his father twice as a child before his death.
However, at age 20, the accused had engaged in a relationship with a woman, but was psychologically impacted by the break-up which saw him ending up in the public hospital’s psychiatric ward. This incident, it was said, impacted his life negatively.
It was mentioned also that the accused man’s family was known for cases of mental illness.
Generally, the accused was described as a peaceful person, with his stepchildren from another relationship saying that he was more of a father to them than their biological father. In his own childhood days, it is alleged that Lyte was subjected to abuse meted out to him by his grandfather with whom he lived along with his grandmother and cousins. The grandmother it was stated was also subjected to the grandfather’s abuse and at one point had threatened suicide.
Lyte’s lawyer, Bettina Glasford, reminded the court that the accused wasted no time in expressing his guilt and that was a mitigating factor. She mentioned too that the court was spared the expense of a trial and the accused waived his right for the prosecution to prove the case against him.
The prosecution, led by Denika Singh on behalf of the state, said that the act by the accused was unprovoked and that two lives were lost. She pointed to the fact that the accused would have taken the life of Blackman who for a number of years was very helpful to the accused.
Lyte, who for the most part of the proceedings hung his head low, with eyes closed in apparent meditation, told the court that he was “sorry about what took place.” He apologized for the hurt he caused the families of the deceased and asked for their forgiveness, while asking for the mercy of the court.