Haniyfa Reza White will spend the next 23 and a half years behind bars for the killing of her former friend and neighbour, Julene Bryan, on May 14, 2007.
That’s the remainder of a 30-year starting sentence handed down by Justice Pamela Beckles on Tuesday, after deducting five years for mitigating factors and the 18-year delay before trial. White also received full credit for the 466 days she spent on remand.
In handing down the ruling in the No 5. Supreme Court Justice Beckles told the convicted killer from Sion Hill, St James: “You used a knife and stabbed the deceased in the neck, resulting in her death – the location of this injury would suggest that your intention was clearly to kill or cause serious bodily harm to the deceased. Yet you see yourself and your children as the victims, even though you were there to love and care for them, to take them to school and witness their accomplishments. These deceased’s children were deprived of this because of your actions that day, which changed their lives dramatically and negatively. You should have been able to settle your emotions by cooling off after you returned home following your beating that day by a friend of the deceased.”
The judge argued that while some people believe non-capital murder should have a higher starting sentence than manslaughter because it is a more serious offence, this perspective fails to account for the “considerable overlap” between the most severe cases of manslaughter and the offence of non-capital murder, pointing out that a manslaughter case can sometimes involve a higher degree of cruelty and depravity than a murder case.
Justice Beckles found aggravating the nature and gravity of the offence, the prevalence of such in society, the use of a knife and that White was pre-armed “to exact revenge for the injury you suffered earlier that day” as well as the fact that the deceased was stabbed in the neck and that the incident took place in front of Bryan’s home and could be a constant reminder to her four children and other relatives.
Mitigating in White’s favour was her lack of a criminal record, favourable pre-sentencing report, which deemed her at a low risk of re-offending, character witness testimonies and the delay.
White was ordered to spend 8 659 days at Dodds Prison and advised to enrol in counselling programmes to help with interpersonal relationships and integration back into society.
During the trial, the court heard that the two women had previously been friends but had fallen out and that on the mentioned date, at a shop in their Six Men’s, St Peter neighbourhood, there was an altercation between White and one of Bryan’s female friends, which resulted in White being injured. Bryan was present at the establishment at the time. The three women all went to their homes, but White later armed herself with a knife, went to Bryan’s home and threw a rock, hitting the house. Bryan came outside with a piece of stick or iron, and the two ended up fighting, during which White stabbed Bryan in the neck, severing her carotid.
White told the court, from the witness stand, that Bryan and other women constantly harassed her after their friendship ended and that on that day, after one of the other women struck her head with a wine bottle, she left the shop bleeding and went home. After not seeing her daughter, she took up a knife and went back outside to find her.
She testified that her aim was not to hurt anyone but to prevent persons from interfering with her and that Bryan came out of her house with a piece of iron.
“She told me she would burst my ***, and I told her ‘Come then’…. She started to beat me with the iron and I grab for the iron and we both fell on the ground and the knife drop and we started to fight,” White recounted. During the scuffle, White said Bryan ended up on top of her as they both fought for the knife, she felt blood, the deceased held up off her, and she ran away.
Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney represented the State while defence counsel Safiya Moore represented White.
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