Kingston, Jamaica — Martin Powell, the safety guard caught on digicam beating a person of unsound thoughts to dying in August 2019, was on Tuesday sentenced to 22 years in jail. Nevertheless, after issues for mitigating elements and time already served, Powell will spend 16 years and 11 months behind bars.
The sentencing was delivered by Supreme Courtroom choose Justice Carolyn Tie-Powell, who described Powell’s actions as “actually horrendous” and a stark “distinction” to the in any other case commendable character outlined in neighborhood reviews.
Powell, a resident of Mount Salus in Stony Hill, St Andrew, was stationed on the Coconut Trade Board premises on Waterloo Highway when the incident occurred. Safety digicam footage confirmed Powell hanging the unidentified man on the top, again, and neck some 16 occasions earlier than dragging the physique to the doorway of the premises. The homeless man, who had wandered onto the property, was declared useless shortly after.
Justice Tie-Powell initially arrived at a sentence of 28 years, citing aggravating elements, together with Powell’s function as a safety guard—somebody anticipated to behave responsibly—and the extreme violence inflicted on a weak sufferer. Nevertheless, mitigating elements, similar to Powell’s lack of premeditation, his responsible plea on the first alternative, and constructive neighborhood reviews, led to a discount of the sentence to 22 years.
Additional deductions have been utilized for Powell’s early responsible plea and time served in custody, in the end bringing the sentence right down to 16 years and 11 months. He might be eligible for parole after serving 12 years.
“What was executed was egregious, a life has been misplaced,” Justice Tie-Powell acknowledged, as Powell, wearing a blue T-shirt and off-white denims, sat quietly along with his head bowed all through the half-hour listening to.
The killing of the homeless man in 2019 highlighted the continuing situation of violent assaults in opposition to homeless people in Jamaica. Since Powell’s case, a number of comparable assaults have occurred:
• January 2021: Six homeless males have been attacked in Kingston, leading to 4 deaths.
• August 2022: 5 juveniles have been charged with setting Lionel Johnson on hearth close to Nationwide Heroes’ Circle. Johnson later succumbed to extreme burns.
• April 2023: Lee Donald, a person of unsound thoughts, was stabbed to dying in Port Antonio, Portland.
• September 2023: Ronaldo Ricketts was charged with the murders of 4 homeless males in Montego Bay.
• December 2023: Rushawn Bulgin acquired a 20-year sentence for the bludgeoning dying of Matthew Lettman in Montego Bay.
The spate of assaults has raised issues over the remedy and security of homeless people throughout the island, prompting efforts such because the Authorities’s addition of 150 beds to a downtown Kingston shelter in 2021.
