R v Scott

• Jurisdiction: Cayman Islands
• Judge: (Henderson, J.)
• Judgment Date: 21 April 2017
• Court: Grand Court (Cayman Islands)
• Date: 21 April 2017

Grand Court, Criminal Division

(Henderson, J.)

R.

and

SCOTT

C. Richards, Q.C. and E. Lees for the Crown;

S. Wass, Q.C. and P. Bodden for the defendant.

Cases cited:

(1) R. v. De Silva, [2014] EWCA Crim 2616; [2015] 1 Cr. App. R. (S.) 52; [2015] Crim. L.R. 301, considered.

(2) R. v. Martin, [2009] EWCA Crim 1182; [2010] 1 Cr. App. R. (S.) 38, considered.

(3) R. v. Peters, [2005] EWCA Crim 605; [2005] 2 Cr. App. R. (S.) 101; [2005] Crim. L. 492, followed.

(4) R. v. Ricketts, 2017 (1) CILR 191, referred to.

Legislation construed:

Conditional Release Law 2014, s.14(1):

“[W]hen sentencing a prisoner to a term of imprisonment for life, the court shall specify the period of incarceration the prisoner shall serve before the prisoner is eligible to be considered for conditional release on licence, the period being such as the court considers appropriate . . . but for murder, the period shall be thirty years before the prisoner is eligible for conditional release . . .”

Conditional Release of Prisoners Regulations 2016, Schedule 12, s.2(2):

“Aggravating circumstances that may be relevant to the offence of murder include—

. . .

(e) the use of duress or threats against another person to facilitate the commission of the offence . . .”

Schedule 12, s.2(3):

“Extenuating circumstances that may be relevant to the offence of murder include—

. . .

(g) the age of the offender . . .”

Criminal Law—murder—sentence—indeterminate sentence—Conditional Release Law 2014, s.14(1) provides default term of 30 years before defendant eligible for consideration for release on licence—exceptional extenuating or aggravating circumstance may justify different minimum term (set out in Conditional Release of Prisoners Regulations 2016, Schedule 12)—young age (18) exceptional extenuating circumstance justifying 2-year reduction

The defendant was convicted of murder and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

In 2011, the defendant shot and killed the victim. The defendant had been 18 years and 3½ months old at the time of the murder. In 2012, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Subsequently, the Conditional Release Law 2014 came into force. Under that Law, when imposing a sentence of life imprisonment, the court must specify the period to be served before the prisoner would be eligible for consideration for conditional release. In a case of murder, s.14(1) provided for a period of 30 years unless there were extenuating or aggravating circumstances, exceptional in nature, which caused the court to impose a shorter or longer period of imprisonment. Aggravating and extenuating circumstances were listed in Schedule 12 to the Conditional Release of Prisoners Regulations 2016. The Law provided that minimum terms had to be set for offenders such as the defendant who had been sentenced for murder before the Law came into force.

The defendant submitted that his age should be taken into account as an extenuating circumstance exceptional in nature pursuant to s.2(3)(g) of Schedule 12 to the Regulations, justifying a shorter minimum term than 30 years.

Held, ruling as follows:

A minimum term of 28 years would be imposed before the defendant would be able to apply for conditional release. The court was satisfied that the defendant’s young age was an extenuating circumstance, exceptional in nature. Of the 22 men convicted of murder in the Cayman Islands, the median age at which each...