JUDGE IMPOSES LIFE SENTENCE ON ‘EVIL, DANGEROUS STALKER, RAPIST AND MURDERER’
By Fernella Wedderburn
Deemed a “dangerous danger” to society, killer Shawn Leo Phillips was on Friday locked away for the rest of his life, even as he served notice that he will be fighting his conviction and sentence.
Justice Carlisle Greaves slapped the 50-year-old Chimborazo, St Joseph resident with a “whole life sentence” for killing 27-year-old Melissa Davis between November 28 and December 5, 2008.
“To remove all doubt, that means that you must serve the rest of your natural life in prison and not be released until you die!” the judge told Phillips on Friday.
“[You are] an evil, dangerous stalker, rapist and murderer . . . . You are an extremely dangerous person from whom this public must be protected forever.”
Moments after the judge handed down his ruling in the No. 3 Supreme Court, Phillips declared: “I appeal against the sentence and the conviction in this court.”
Approximately four years after being released from jail where he served a 12-year sentence for rape – according to the evidence revealed during his trial – Phillips abducted, raped, strangled and killed Davis, a mother of a then seven-year-old girl.
The daughter, now 21, said in her victim impact statement that she hoped her mother’s murderer would be as miserable as she is, and suggested that he should not be allowed to hurt or ruin another life.
Davis had taken the bus home on the night of November 8, 2008, and was subsequently reported missing.
“Unknowing to her, danger like she has never seen before and will never see again lurked. In that bus was a dangerous predator, Shawn Leo Phillips, a man with 18 previous convictions including several assaults on women, at least seven of which he had been convicted,” Justice Greaves pointed out.
Highlighting the facts of the case, the judge said the killer had a plan as he knew where Davis lived and where she was heading, according to the statement he gave police, as he had grown up in the area.
Addressing the court on Friday, Phillips, who was found guilty by unanimous jury verdict in February, vehemently maintained his innocence.
“With all due respect, Sir, . . . I have no knowledge of this crime. As the case was going on, you will see, Sir, that there is no kind of DNA evidence, no forensic evidence linking me to this matter because I have no knowledge of this crime, Sir,” he claimed.
“I am an innocent man of this crime standing before you, wrongfully placed in prison, and God is not sleeping because I have nothing to hide. I do not know this young lady as I have never met this young lady. I have no contact at all, whatsoever, and there is no evidence produced in this court saying such. It is putting an innocent man in prison wrongfully, Sir.”
But Justice Greaves told Phillips that even in the absence of forensic evidence, “this was a strong case”.
Telling the killer that he believed his own lies, the judge added: “You convinced yourself that you are so right to do these things to innocent people that you are the one who is innocent. That makes you an extremely dangerous person from whom this public must be protected forever.
“Your attitude, the facts of this case, and your record clearly demonstrate that, given any opportunity, you are going to do it again. Your own mother has forsaken you. In the pre-sentencing report, the probation officer could find not a single person who would stand up for you – not your brothers, not even your mother . . . . She understands your evil so she says you ‘made up your bed . . . . If you kill, you should be killed’.”
The pre-sentencing report also assessed Phillips as being at high risk for further offending and stated that he continued to be a significant risk to society. A report from a psychiatrist also said his risk of violent reoffending was significant.
Given those factors, Senior State Counsel Neville Watson urged the court to impose a full life sentence on Phillips to maintain, among other things, public confidence in the judicial system.
The prosecutor described Phillips’ crime as savage, horrendous, callous, , “smacked of depravity” and brutal
“This man is a danger,” he declared.
The judge accepted the prosecution’s submissions and disagreed with defence attorney Michael Lashley KC who, in mitigating on the convict’s behalf, urged the court to impose a starting sentence in the range of 20 to 25 years.
He said the time Phillips had spent on remand and the delay in having his matter heard should also be deducted from that sentence.
“If I was to impose a life sentence on you with a tariff, as your counsel suggests, even of 40 years before eligibility for release, you are only 50 years old; even at 90, I am not confident that you would not rape and kill again . . . based on your record here. You are a man who, by your record, demonstrates that you are prepared to escalate by whatever instrument necessary,” Justice Greaves said. “I have no clue given your record and the particular facts of this case . . . when would be a predictable time that you will not be a threat to the women of this society. No clue.”
The judge further stressed that Phillips had shown no remorse.
“You have not in any way accepted that you have done wrong in this case. That shows a strong propensity to commit further offences of this kind if you are released. I found no mitigating factors of any degree that should cause [me] to impose a sentence of less than life,” he said.
“I have come to the convincing conclusion that you constitute a real danger, a dangerous danger to both men and women of this society and in particular to women. I have come to the view that you would do it again if given any opportunity to do so and that the society must be protected from you forever.”
fernellawedderburn@barbadostoday.bb
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