Eighteen-year-old Eton Calistro was on Monday sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon for stabbing a CD vendor to death July 18, 2015 at Soesdyke, on the East Bank of Demerara.
Upon the State’s murder indictment, Calistro, who plead not guilty to the murder of 21-year-old Leroy Moore, called “Jim Carrey”, admitted guilt to the lesser count of manslaughter.
State Counsels Abigail Gibbs and Mandell Moore appeared for the prosecution while attorneys George Thomas and Sonia Parag defended Calistro. According to the facts of the case presented by Prosecutor Gibbs, the labourer, who was just 15 years old at the time of his crime, went to a bar with his two brothers and while there, the deceased, Moore “hustled” a female, which annoyed Calistro. The court heard that the two had an exchange of words, after which, Calistro left with his siblings. Moore was with seven other males at the time.
The prosecutor further explained that after they left the bar and went to Soesdyke, the accused and the deceased met up and had a scuffle. Moore was stabbed twice and succumbed whilst being transported to hospital. A post-mortem examination revealed he died from perforation to the heart and lungs due to stab wounds.
In plea of mitigation, the defence attorney, George Thomas, informed the court that his client was defending himself as Calistro saw himself as a victim in the matter. Thomas pointed to alcohol consumption being a notable factor of the incident while his client begged the court’s mercy. Prosecutor Gibbs observed that even though the killing was unfortunate due to ages involved; persons must face the consequences for their actions. She contended that a period of incarceration could give the offender an opportunity to reflect on what he had done so that he would not repeat his crime.
After a brief adjournment, Justice Kissoon passed down sentence, observing the impact that alcohol had on the events that led to the outcome. He started at a base of 25 years for manslaughter and deducted one-third of the sentence for acceptance of guilt; three years for time spent on remand and three years, six months for his age and other mitigating factors.
In July, Calistro appeared before Justice Brassington Reynolds and pleaded not guilty to both murder and manslaughter after reportedly telling his then lawyer, Stanley Moore that he indented to plead guilty to manslaughter. Those proceedings were discontinued, and he was ordered to appear before another Judge.
Moore was a former resident of Caneview Avenue, South Ruimveldt Gardens.
