Serial violent offender jailed for five years
(CNS): A West Bay man with a string of over 100 previous convictions who violently assaulted his nephew with a machete in January has been jailed for five years. Eladio Chesley Brown (54) badly wounded his nephew after the younger man came to the house to break up a violent argument between Brown and his daughter.
Worried about his cousin after seeing and hearing the angry dispute, the 33-year-old victim armed himself with a machete and went over to his uncle’s house in the family yard in Caribbean Lane to try to stop the altercation. But when the defendant opened the door, he too was armed with a machete and immediately swung it at his nephew, striking the younger man on the chest, head and shoulder.
According to the case against Brown, he did not stop the attack when his nephew fell to the ground and struck him at least two more times, hitting him in the face and across his jaw. Despite multiple injuries, the nephew made it to the West Bay police station and was immediately taken to the hospital, where he underwent surgery on his jaw and other treatment.
Although his injuries were not permanent, the scars from the wounds are. According to a victim impact report submitted to the court, the victim was severely impacted by the attack, not just physically but emotionally, compounded by the fact that it was his uncle who caused him so much harm.
Brown was arrested and later charged with GBH wounding with intent but denied the allegation. He claimed his nephew had attacked him and his response was self-defence. However, Brown was unhurt while his nephew sustained several serious injuries to his head, face, shoulders and chest.
He was found guilty following a trial earlier this year. Already on remand, Brown appeared in Grand Court via video link from HMP Northward on Friday for sentencing. Justice Cheryll Richards, the presiding judge, noted that he has a violent history, with dozens of convictions for assault on his rap sheet and more than one hundred previous offences, several of them against family and friends.
A psychiatric report documented that while Brown does not suffer from a specific mental health condition, he has a personality disorder and grew up in a violent, dysfunctional environment. He also has an alcohol abuse problem that fuels his anger.
The report said that Brown is paranoid and believes everyone is out to get him, but he also has an “inflated sense of self-importance” and showed a “blatant disregard for social norms”. However, these hide deep insecurities that keep him angry and defensive, with a permanent feeling of mistrust towards others.
Given his violent history and the seriousness of the offence, the judge started her sentence at six years. But she took into account the element of provocation and the personality problems documented in the report and reduced the sentence to five years.
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We clearly need enforcement rigour. 100 crimes! 5 years is not long enough to protect society.
100 convictions? Am i missing something? Who are these magistrates allowing these insane numbers?
Something not right there.
Our justice system is getting just as soft as the UK. Disturbing crimes getting slaps on the wrist!
Criminality cannot be wished away.
Every society has always had persistent criminals, but only in the West since the 1960s have we been arrogant enough to attempt to ignore reality:
“Men commit evil within the scope available to them. […] most evildoers merely make the most of their opportunities. They do what they can get away with. […] I have met at least 5,000 perpetrators […] violence [and] 5,000 victims of it: nearly 1 percent of the population of my city—or a higher percentage, if one considers the age-specificity of the behavior. And when you take the life histories of these people, as I have, you soon realize that their existence is as saturated with arbitrary violence as that of the inhabitants of many a dictatorship. Instead of one dictator, though, there are thousands, each the absolute ruler of his own little sphere, his power circumscribed by the proximity of another such as he.”
The Frivolity of Evil, Theodore Dalrymple, Autumn 2004, https://www.city-journal.org/html/frivolity-evil-12835.html
“A 1982 study of 240 criminals found that this small group was responsible for a half million crimes over an eleven-year period—an average of 190 crimes a year. Another study of various state prisoners found that 25 percent of them committed 135 crimes a year, while 10 percent committed 600 crimes a year. A California study of convicted males found that just 3.5 percent of those males committed 60 percent of the crimes committed by the whole group. Numerous other studies came to the same conclusion: a tiny cohort of chronic offenders is disproportionately responsible for the vast amount of predatory violence. This is the crime that is predictable and can be most effectively prevented by the intervention of our criminal justice system. The identity of these career offenders was not a mystery. They started committing crimes as juveniles—for which they are never held accountable—and kept on committing crimes as adults. They continued committing crimes whenever they were let out of prison on bail, parole, and probation. As a general rule, the recidivism rate of this hard-core element remained stubbornly high and started dropping appreciably only after they reached forty years old.” William Barr, One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General (William Morrow)
Justice Richards strikes again. Any thought toward public safety would suggest 10-15 years. Then the hundred or so people he has attacked might sleep easier, and he might be too old for machete fighting when he gets out.
With so many convictions, the fact he was not already locked away is beyond belief. The “personality problems” should increase the sentence not reduce it! He is a career criminal. This is his choice.
Attempted murder!!! 5 Years only???
but if had attacked a non local….
Mitigating factor…. The victim was armed as well, unfortunately that is how the law works. I know it seems unfair but mitigating factors reduce jail time in sentencing hearings. I hope this young man is ok and that he recovers from his physical and emotional injuries. Sadly the law does not want Justice dispensed by members of the public and that is reflected in the sentence handed down. I do agree however that the 100 previous convictions would serve as aggravating factors but it depends on what they were for and how long ago they were committed. Eg a Ganja conviction wouldn’t be a factor in a violent crime trial.
If that’s the law, the law is a ass.
Credit to Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
Guessing someone else had access to the shared family braincell that day. Big Mac voters one and all.
5 years? 100 convictions? wtf.
Very disruptive aggressive boy even in primary and middle school days. Thrown out of high school I believe. And yes, Caymanian.
This soul will not change he is violent to people he know that can’t defend themselves, his poor nephew never had any bad intentions and that’s why he attacked him, if he knew it was someone that meant business he would have stayed inside and made lots of noise, coward punk
The man has obviously had a troubled childhood and has some serious mental difficulties. Unfortunately, I don’t think 5 years is enough and he needs to be in a longer term facility. As sad as that might be, some people cannot be reformed and will be a threat to the public if released.
Not long enough.