Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale says Cheriss Ricardo Omar Ince’s “calculated murder” of 75-year-old Marcelle Smith passes the threshold for him to serve a life sentence.
But the killer’s defence lawyer Safiya Moore believes a sentence of 30 to 40 years in prison would be sufficient.
The two made the submissions before Justice Randall Worrell on Monday in the No. 3 Supreme Court after Ince apologised for his actions.
“I apologise for the wrong that I have done, the harm . . . . I cause on everybody involved; the deceased’s family, I am sorry for everything. That is it, Sir,” he said.
Last November, Ince, of Nursery #2, Four Roads, St Philip, pleaded guilty to non-capital murder, admitting to killing Smith sometime between October 12 and October 25, 2015. The woman’s decomposing body was discovered in a ravine two weeks after she went missing from her #2 Congo Road, St Philip residence on October 12, 2015.
In mitigating on the convict’s behalf, Moore argued that life imprisonment was not an appropriate sentence in his case.
“We submit that while the crime is a grave one, Mr Ince himself does not fall into the category of persons who can be deemed to have no real prospect of reform. When we look at the pre-sentencing report, we submit that it does not place Mr Ince in the category of persons that life imprisonment should be imposed . . . ,” she said.
“Our submissions are that this matter is one where a determinate custodial sentence should be imposed. . . . Based on the requirements for the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment, Mr Ince does not meet those requirements.”
The defence lawyer then suggested a starting sentence in the range of 30 to 40 years, with the court balancing the mitigating and aggravating factors and determining whether or not “an uplift of the starting point is necessary”.
However, Seale took a different view. He said the matter was on the “borderline of what would be otherwise regarded as capital murder”.
Seale, whose sentencing submissions are not yet complete, focused on Ince’s statement to the police. He said it pointed to planning on the killer’s part from the beginning and contended there must have been some premeditation.
“This was a calculated murder,” said the prosecutor who also pointed out that the crime started in the sanctity of Smith’s home.
Seale said that given what the elderly woman went through, this was “the threshold of capital murder, so it must be the highest end of non-capital murder”.
“A defenceless old woman beaten, tied up and then strangled . . . . This was a murder from the onset. Having gone to that house . . . you put an end to her life over greed.
“This is close to the top of the totem pole and when we look at sentences, I am submitting that this is one that certainly passes the threshold for life imprisonment,” the deputy DPP said.
He will continue his sentencing submissions on May 15.
In the meantime, a psychiatric report has been ordered on Ince to facilitate the sentencing process. The court already has probation and psychological reports.
In a statement to police, Ince had said he only went to rob Smith.
He said after ambushing her outside her home and tying her up, he searched the house for money but only found $40 in one of her bags.
Ince said he got the woman’s ATM cards and left to try to withdraw money but was unsuccessful. When he returned to Smith’s house, he tried to put her in the trunk of her car but a struggle ensued and “everything went wrong”. He said he struck Smith several times about her body and eventually placed her in the trunk and drove around with her for a while.
Ince said by the time he checked on Smith, she was dead and he dumped her body in the gully.
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