Numbers shop killers get 10 and 14 years jail time
(CNS): Justin Kyle Jackson (24) will serve 14 years and one month in prison while Eric Williams Soto (23) will serve ten years for the manslaughter of retired prison officer Harry Elliott and the possession of a loaded illegal gun during a botched robbery at a numbers shop, run by an ex-cop, on School Road in April 2022. Jackson received a lengthier sentence due to his previous convictions and a separate conviction for the possession of another unlicensed firearm.
Both men appeared in court via video link on Friday for their final sentence hearing, during which Justice Cheryll Richards outlined the reasons for the prison terms she imposed on each of the men. In her ruling, Richards explained how she had calculated the sentences based on the guidelines, the details of the crime, the defendants’ own circumstances, and the aggravating and mitigating factors.
Justice Richards said that the case was a tragedy that could have been avoided for Elliott’s family as well as the two defendants had they obeyed the rule of law. She said she had started her sentencing exercise at twelve years, but she then considered a number of aggravating factors about the case, including the fact that Jackson had fired a gun in a very small room with several people inside.
Jackson was also on parole for another violent crime when he killed Elliott in the robbery gone wrong; a social inquiry report found that he was at high risk of re-offending and “extorting cash from numbers shops was a routine occupation” for him, the judge noted as she increased his sentence to 15 years and nine months.
But she then took several mitigating circumstances into account, including the fact that Jackson had admitted manslaughter soon after his arrest on the basis that he had accidentally fired the gun and had never meant to shoot anyone. However, that was rejected by the crown, which took the case to trial on a murder charge only to have the jury find it was manslaughter. Jackson was also said to have mental health issues that have only recently been diagnosed, as well as developmental problems.
As a result of these factors, she reduced the sentence by around one-third, bringing it down to eleven years and nine months. She also handed down a ten-year mandatory term for the possession of the gun used to kill Elliott, which has never been recovered as Jackson claimed he gave it back to the third man involved in the crime. The judge said that time should run concurrently with the manslaughter sentence.
But Jackson was also facing a separate conviction for the possession of a gun. Just days after Elliott was killed, while Jackson was wanted by the police, they had picked up information he was in West Bay in a white car and went in pursuit. During the chase, Jackson crashed the car and fled on foot, leaving a 9mm Taurus semi-automatic handgun behind.
He admitted to possession of that gun some days later when he handed himself in to the police. His attorney, Sallie Bennett-Jenkins, had said that he had the gun because the day before he was caught by the police, Caine Thomas, the man said to have been the getaway driver who provided a different gun for the tragic botched robbery, had been murdered.
Bennett-Jenkins had argued that the crimes were connected, which meant that the judge could run the statutory minimum sentence in relation to possession of the second gun concurrently with his sentence for the manslaughter conviction. However, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Candia James had argued that it was a different crime, despite being close in time and with some similarities.
The judge found that while there were connections, it was a separate crime and worrying that within days of committing the gambling shop killing, he was able to get his hands on another firearm so quickly. She said, “He was in possession of two separate firearms in the space of four days” because he “was so connected to guns”.
But because of concerns about the totality of the sentence and the importance of not handing down a disproportionately long time, destroying any hope of a future for Jackson, she ordered that 28 months of the seven-year mandatory sentence run consecutively to the manslaughter conviction and the remainder concurrently. As a result, Jackson is now facing a prison term of 14 years and one month.
For Soto, after starting with a sentence of twelve years, given his lesser role, his previous good character and a number of other factors, she reduced his time for the manslaughter to ten years with another ten-year mandatory sentence for the weapon used in the robbery to run concurrently, leaving him facing ten years in jail.
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Take note people. The justice system in Cayman is actively aligned against the interests of the law abiding part of the community. Your rights simply do not matter.
Terrible, and don’t forget the link to the 3xdaily Jamaican Red Pot lottery!
Why do you think there are 37 “barber shops” on Eastern Ave.?!
Time for government to simply licence official sellers, and not reinvent the lottery wheel.
A few decades ago, murderers would have swung from gallows in George Town. Nowadays they are released early from Northward to make room for their recidivist peers. Is there no middle ground on sentencing that we can all get comfortable with in regards to those convicted of serious crimes? Why publish sentencing guidelines if our judges won’t follow them?
Why such weak sentences? Gun possession alone is 10 years!?!
BULLSHIT SENTENCE!!!!! They will live a life of crime once again when out. The judge should be ashamed of herself.
Don’t blame the Judge, blame the jury.
If this was my relative that had been senselessly killed, I would seek another solution that would permanently punish them.
14 and 10 and out in 7 and 5? You take a life, you should give a life. Life in prison, the hard way.
And we wonder why we have rampant criminality in Grand Cayman. These are full grown men who intended to do bad things and brought a lethal weapon with them to do it.
The sentencing is a joke.
Laughable, the crims are laughing at the justice system here, and for once I don’t blame them!
Certain that many others will more eloquently express their dismay and frustration at what amount to relatively minor sentences for the most serious of crimes. If the cig, police and judiciary are sincere about tackling the ever growing gun problem and associated “gangsta” mentality pervading these islands then this sends a terrible message around the severity of how those responsible will be treated. Just consider if both of these thugs have been on remand since arrest then feasibly, with any early release, they could be back on the streets in 5-6 years. For callously taking someone’s life using an illegal firearm. complete joke, albeit not a good one.
I am behooved that Kid ‘n Play lookalikes should have received at least 25 years for murder.
Cayman’s judicial system is softer than Cayman employers treatment of Caymanians who don’t show up for work. Might as well given them juice and cookies and a nappy while in the courtroom.
They were not convicted of Murder. They were convicted of Manslaughter. Start there with your comment.
Squirt gun sentencing continues…
Any relation to Shaun Jackson, who got life for murder recently?
10 and 14 years so they will be out in 5 and 7 years likely. Its a piss take to the general public. Admitting guilt should never be seen as a mitigating circumstance. As mentioned in the article, one of them was in possession of another firearm days later. How does this not reinforce that they are career criminals and showed no remorse whatsoever? Caymans judicial system is and has long been one of the reasons Caymans gun culture is so rife. They should both be doing life sentences. Full Stop.
Many of our bewildered public might recall when it was supposed to be 10 years in jail for possessing a single bullet, let alone a fully assembled, armed, and cocked gun, lined up to someone’s head, where trigger is pulled to fatally execute a non-threatening human being. Seems like the judiciary has let things slide, and these young Caymanians will be out in 5, with whole careers of public nuisance to look forward to. Yay.
All prohibitions leads to is unsafe underground activity. Given incidents like this, gambling legalisation is harm reduction.
This began as an armed cash robbery of the illegal numbers shop. Could just as easily have been one of the many gas stations, liquor stores, and late night food vendors that are ritually robbed. Are you suggesting that robbery and murder should also be legalised? Make sense.