Far too many inappropriate sentences for offenders

Jan 09, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Kaieteur News – I write to you on a legal topic. I have noticed that there are far too many inappropriate sentences for offenders in the Assizes, of which I read almost every month at least twice in your widely read newspaper here in the diaspora, of offenders who are found guilty of a capital offence, and in particular the recent sentence received by Foster Gravesande of Mahaica in the Demerara Assizes, and that no one in the judicial hierarchy seems concerned.
As a former practitioner in Guyana myself, and with a keen sense of seeing fair play occurring in civil society, I would like to say that Guyana should take a harder look at its sentencing laws and principles used by judges, and introduce new legislation accordingly to suit the times.
Here in Ontario in 2021, firstly, a good sentencing technique that a judge often use upon a similar person like Foster Gravesande, who, from what I read in the Article entitled on page eight Kaieteur News January 8, 2021 edition, ‘The only thing is that I love women… Mahaica man tells court before he gets 56 years for murder’, has been a model citizen and a model prisoner for the past four years, would be to declare him as a dangerous offender due to the nature and gravity of his crime.
In Ontario, such a designation will oftentimes result in an indeterminate sentence by a judge, with eligibility to apply for parole after seven years due to statutory legal guidelines. The learned judge in Guyana gave Mr. Gravesande the quantum of 56 years with eligibility for parole after 28 years.
I find such a sentence very interesting as a lawyer. I find it interesting because if one is sent to the “slammers” for 60 or more years with eligibility for parole exceeding 25 years, and as in Gravesande’s case – eligibility for parole after 28 years – certainly you will never get parole, in essence when you are in your 50s as Mr. Gravesande is.
Now, in my humble view that portion of the sentence is cruel and inhumane and ought to be addressed by the legislators and/or Chancellor and/or AG, as it is not just cruel and inhumane, but unconscionable and difficult for me to digest as an individual living in a civil society.
Why would a judicial officer see it appropriate to say that an offender is to be eligible for parole until he is 106 years of age, when the average lifespan of a citizen in Guyana is a mere 63 – is that how we ought to operate when we wear a justice cap in 2021? I ask.
Here, in Ontario, the sentencing regime only permits a sentencing judge concrete parameters within which he or she must deliver an appropriate sentence, and if a judge overrides those parameters his or her Regional Supervisor, a senior judge, may “accost” that judge to keep him or her “in line and in conformity” and, I end by saying that with Ontarian judges, I have found that they would use seven years as eligibility for parole as a yardstick for when even the most dangerous offender with first degree murder faces them in the courtroom. Ontarian justice system accords high regard to human dignity and the right of an offender to make amends for a bad deed, particularly when there is a punitive measure taken by the State, and the sentencing laws are geared to that end. I therefore feel Guyana ought to take guidance from the Ontarian jurisdiction, which is known for its excellent judicious sentencing regime, and which I don’t hesitate to say, is very similar to almost all the other common law jurisdictions of the Commonwealth, like Australia, the U.K., etc.
I shudder to think what would have happened to the lawyer’s thought processes, who appeared for the Defence at the Sentencing Hearing following the decision by the learned judge in the Demerara Assizes for the rest of that day, much less Mr. Gravesande, the offender, himself.

Sincerely,
M. Shabeer Zafar
Barrister, Solicitor
Notary

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Far too many inappropriate sentences for offenders

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