DPP’s advice to murder accused

That’s the advice from the island’s top prosecutor to murder accused as he warned that should they take on the State and lose, then they have to accept whatever sentence the court imposes.

“That is the word I say to all the persons who get into trouble and those who are already in trouble – clear your conscience early and the court might feel for you. But if you fight, you have to take what you get,” Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Alliston Seale, SC, said yesterday.

He made the comments as he asked the No. 4 Supreme Court to impose a starting sentence of 40 years on convicted murderer Ramon Akeem Doyle.

He said Doyle had been offered the opportunity to plead to the lesser count of manslaughter but opted for a trial where the jury unanimously found him guilty of murder.

“I say that people should avail themselves of it. They are lucky. Get the one-third and everything else at the earliest possible time. It is a sliding scale and my policy is simply this: if you take too long to throw in the plea, then that scale moves from onethird.

“And it isn’t me that says so, because I am not any legal luminary. But Teerath Persaud, the authority on it, says that the later the plea comes, the less discount you should get, because the man who pleads guilty from the earliest opportunity is that man who is contrite.”

Doyle, of Leinster Road, Waterford, St Michael, was found guilty of murdering 39-year-old Victor Watson, formerly of Lower Deacons Road, St Michael, on December 3, 2021.

He was represented by Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens.

The DPP said when he offered accused pleas, he was doing so in accordance with the evidence and the law.

“People must understand when I address my mind to whether an offer will be made to a defendant, I have to look at the facts. I have to look at evidence. I just can’t offer it because I am in charge and because I’m turning stupid,” Seale explained.

He noted the families of the deceased had interests in the cases and “they wouldn’t want their family’s life to go for nothing”.

“So I have to find somewhere in the evidence that I read, some issue of provocation,

something that may allow us to reduce [the charge]. I have to do it based on the law, even though some people do not agree with me.”

He referred to a case where he “recently took a plea” of manslaughter after finding evidence of provocation “because a man ate another man’s luncheon meat”.

Seale said people questioned how that could have been considered an act of provocation but he stressed: “I uphold the law and provocation is a legal definition and that [the eating of the man’s luncheon meat] might be able to affect that man. You cannot say luncheon meat is less important than if you had filet mignon. It isn’t about the value of the meat. It depends on how important it is to me that makes me react how I react,” the DPP said.

“So if in a case I found something that was a legal basis for accepting manslaughter, a case of provocation, and [the accused] decides he still wants to take on a trial, and gets convicted of murder, that he has to accept that.”

He, however, made it clear that it was the right of all accused to plead not guilty and have a trial, but they “cannot have it both ways”.

“We know full well if you are afforded an opportunity to plead to a lesser offence, first of all you get your one-third for the guilty plea right off the bat.

“You haven’t done anything to deserve it but you get it. Some people say it saves the court time, but sometimes the evidence is pellucid. It is very difficult to escape,” the DPP told the court.

He further noted not every accused was offered the lesser plea of manslaughter. Some, he added, were allowed to plead to non-capital murder.

“You still get a one-third discount,” he said.

Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell will sentence Doyle on July 17. (HLE)