Twenty-two-year-old Ryan Jones, also called Rayon Jones, was on Tuesday sentenced by Justice Sandil Kissoon to 28 years’ jail for killing a 24-year-old mechanic on June 9, 2016 when he burglarised the mechanic’s home at Madewini, Timehri. The victim, Puranand Baljit, had been stabbed 10 times, and died as a result of his injuries.
Jones, of Fourth Avenue, Bartica, who was recaptured after escaping from the Lusignan prison in an outbreak that occurred in 2017, pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter on Tuesday, after being originally indicted for murder committed in the furtherance of a robbery. He, however, pleaded not guilty to the capital offence.
He was represented by Attorney Maxwell McKay, while State Prosecutor Mandell Moore appeared for the State.
Jones admitted he had entered Baljit’s room by climbing through a window, and had stolen the victim’s laptop and cellphone. However, Baljit suddenly awoke and confronted him, and Jones stabbed the man with a knife he had taken to the scene, the court was told.
Baljit’s father related to investigators that on the night of his son’s murder he had heard screams coming from his room. He later discovered his son lying in a pool of blood. Jones, who had fled the scene, was apprehended two days later at the Georgetown seawall in the company of a female; and according to court records, Jones had sold the stolen items, worth several hundred thousand dollars, for only G$5,000.
He told Justice Kissoon on Tuesday that he was running his whole life, and didn’t know why; but he now knows the truth, and it has set him free. He also expressed remorse for his actions while also saying that he has one life to live and one judgment to face.
However, the court has sentenced Jones to serve out his sentence without the possibility of parole.
Jones was 20 at the time he committed the crime, and he admitted to knowing the deceased prior to the incident. According to the particulars of the case, after confessing to Police, Jones had taken ranks to an abandoned house where he had stashed the murder weapon and clothes which had stains suspected to be blood on them.
His lawyer, in a plea of mitigation, stressed that Jones had always cooperated with Police, and had had no additional matters other than the murder case and escaping from the Lusignan Prison in July last year.
However, Prosecutor Moore called on the court to consider why the victim was killed. No relative of either the victim or accused was present in court.
Justice Kissoon, in considering the sentence, told the offender that the court would normally hand down life imprisonment owing to the nature of Jones’s offence, but would not in this case, as he was 20 when he killed Baljit. Nevertheless, the judge considered that the defendant went to the victim’s home with the knife in his possession.
In computing the sentence, 10 years were added to the base of 14 years and 5 months on account of aggravating factors. This gave 24 years, 5 months, but Justice Kissoon added 3 years and 7 months for the brutality meted out to the victim; and in the end the sentence amounted to a prison term of 28 years. (Shemuel Fanfair)
