Appeal Court slashes killer’s sentence by more than half

Dec 22, 2018 News

Cedric Blackman

A man, who had confessed in Court to chopping his 75-year-old neighbour to death, as well as another, had his 47-year jail sentence reduced by more than half by the Court of Appeal yesterday.
Fifty two-year-old William Lyte was sentenced to 26 years’ imprisonment for killing 75-year-old Cedric Bernard after he pleaded guilty to the offence of manslaughter. Added to that, he was handed a 21-year jail term after he pleaded guilty to unlawfully killing 38-year-old Ann Cham-a-Koon whom he also chopped to death.

Both of the sentences were handed down in 2014 by High Court Judge Navindra Singh who ordered that the jail terms run consecutively—meaning that Lyte will serve an accumulated sentence of 47 years. Lyte was given extra years for killing Blackman because they were related.
Just around midday on October 26, 2010, Lyte went berserk chopping four persons in a savage cutlass attack at Charlestown, Georgetown. Blackman, who is said to be a distant relative of his, and Cham-a-Koon were chopped about their bodies and pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Also injured during the attack were Shawn De Souza who was chopped to his shoulder and neck and Radesh Persaud who managed to escape with only a chop to the head.
According to reports, Lyte who is of unsound mind, had planned the attack, since he was seen days prior sharpening a cutlass.
He was reportedly overheard saying that he had to “cleanse the earth of its demons.” After the vicious chopping, Lyte had surrendered to police. At sentencing stage, Lyte had expressed r

CONFESSED KILLER: William Lyte

emorse for his action while begging the families of the victims for forgiveness.
Anyway, the Court of Appeal comprising Chancellor of Judiciary (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards, and Justices of Appeal Rishi Persaud and Dawn Gregory reduced that sentence by more than half. The Court of Appeal held that the sentence imposed by Justice Singh was excessive.
In support of this, the Chancellor said that the killings arose out of the same circumstances, while noting that Lyte pleaded guilty to both offences. Citing a ruling by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, the Chancellor said in that case the judge ruled that in such circumstances a concurrent sentence should be imposed.
The Court of Appeal ordered the 26 and 21-year jail terms run concurrent, which means that the sentences will be served at the same time, with the longest period—26 years controlling. Lyte will now serve 26 years behind bars.

KILLED: Ann Cham-a-Koon

In his grounds of appeal against the sentence, Attorney-at-Law Mark Conway who was retained by Lyte, argued that (a) The Learned Trial Judge erred in the addition of years towards the base sentence, (b) The Learned Trial Judge erred in not taking the appellant’s (Lyte) mental state into consideration at the time of the offence as a mitigating factor, and (c) The Learned Trial Judge order that the sentences must run consecutively was not justify.
The Chancellor ordered that Lyte be taken to a psychiatrist for periodic examinations/assessment given the history of his mental state.
Earlier this year, High Court Judge Brassington Reynolds sentenced Lyte to 18 years in jail for the attack on De Souza and Persaud, after he pleaded guilty to two separate attempted murder charges. On each of the charges Lyte was jailed for 18 years, but Justice Reynolds ordered the jail terms be served concurrently.

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