Calliaqua fisherman Joel Ashton aka Goat, 56, who caused the death of Cameron Alexandar, a security guard, when he struck him in the head with a rum bottle at Lowmans Bay in August 2023, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
High Court judge Justice Rickie Burnett handed down the sentence in Kingstown on Monday.
However, the two months and three days that Ashton spent on remand were deducted from the sentence, leaving him a further nine years, nine months and 28 days behind bars.
A nine-member jury found Ashton guilty of the charge that between Aug. 26 and Sept. 1, 2023, at Lowmans Bay, he caused Alexander’s death by an unlawful act.
Summarising the case, Justice Burnett noted that at the time of his death, Alexander was a 42-year-old security guard and the father of two children.
Alexander and Ashton were friends and were hanging out together with other friends in Lowmans Bay on Aug. 26, 2023.
Alexander and another man pooled their money to buy a “PT” (pint) of strong rum, which cost EC$8.
Sometime later, a physical altercation ensued after Alexander reportedly removed a small bottle of rum from Ashton’s pocket.
In response, Ashton struck Alexander on the left side of his head with a glass rum bottle, causing the bottle to shatter.
A witness said that Alexander did not react to Ashton’s actions but asked, “Just so?”
The witness also saw Alexander holding his head in a slanted way and saw blood running from his ear.
Alexander then went into the sea nearby and returned to the shop, where a witness observed blood on his neck.
Alexander later went home.
Sometime later that evening, his son, Jiovanni Stapleton, checked on him at his residence and found him sleeping. Stapleton did not disturb his father.
The next day, Alexander went to work and nothing eventful occurred. However, his younger son reported that Alexander was looking off in the distance and speaking to himself.
By Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, Alexander’s condition had deteriorated significantly and his younger son discovered him unresponsive, frothing at the mouth and bleeding.
He alerted his older brother, who took Alexander to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, where he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.
Alexander died at the hospital on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.
Dr. Ronald Child conducted a post-mortem on the body the following day and concluded that Alexander died of blunt force trauma to the head, consistent with the impact of the bottle during the altercation.
The police visited the scene multiple times during their investigation.
On Sept. 24, 2023, Ashton surrendered to the Questelles Police Station in the company of his lawyer, Grant Connel.
Ashton declined to provide a formal statement during an electronic interview and was cautioned and arrested on suspicion of the offence.
The judge said that during a subsequent visit to the crime scene with investigators, Ashton was overheard saying certain things.
Police later charged him with manslaughter.
In coming to its sentence, the court considered the principles of sentencing, namely retribution, deterrence, prevention, and rehabilitation.
Hearng ‘rum’ tiggers bad memories
Justice Burnett said that in the victim impact statement, Giovanni Stapleton, the older of the deceased man’s sons, said his father meant everything to him, and he missed him daily.
The son said he misses his father’s voice, presence and their conversations.
Stapleton said that when he lost his father, a huge part of him went missing, which he can never regain.
The son said that the loss of his father has changed him, especially in the manner in which he was killed.
Hearing the word “rum” at a function changes his demeanour as his mind automatically goes back to his father’s death, the report cited Stapleton as saying.
He said that everything went downhill for him and his brother after their father’s death.
Stapleton said he could no longer live in the house where his father once lived due to a family dispute.
Further, since their father’s passing, Stapleton’s younger brother lost the guidance that his father provided.
The judge pointed out that Stapleton had said that he left it to the court to do justice in the matter.
Justice Burnett noted that while Stapleton was not in court during Monday’s sentencing hearing, he had testified in the trial and had followed it throughout.
Good character, lack of premeditation helps defendant
With regard to the consequence, the judge noted that the consequence of manslaughter is always the death of the victim.
The judge assessed the seriousness of the offence by considering the offender’s culpability.
Based on the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court guidelines on manslaughter, the level of seriousness of the offence is divided into four categories.
Category A seriousness — very high – sets a starting point of 24 years in prison; Category B — high – with a starting point of 18 years; Category C — medium — with a starting point of 12 years, and Category D – low — with a starting point of six years.
The judge said that, having regard to the facts of the case and his evaluation of the evidence, the court placed the matter at level C, minimum, with a starting point of 12 years.
The judge then moved to the next stage of the sentencing, noting that the court is guided by sentencing guidelines.
In which he assessed the aggravating and mitigating features of the offence.
Aggravating was that the offence involved the use of a weapon, in that the defendant used a bottle to hit the complainant on the head.
Mitigation was that there was no evidence of planning and lack of premeditation.
The judge made no adjustment to the sentence at that stage.
Mitigating of the offender was that he was of good character. The court said no aggravating factor of the offender.
He said the court heard the evidence of character witnesses as to Ashton’s good character.
The court held that the mitigating factors of the offender outweigh the aggravating and reduced the sentence by two years.