Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterA JUVENILE, who was convicted three times for murder before he was 18 years old, was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment.
The convict is 25-year-old Damion Thomas, also called 'Cuttist' of a downtown Kingston address. He was first convicted on April 14, 1997 and ordered detained at the Governor-General's pleasure. He was convicted of the second murder on February 11, 2000.
Justice Horace Marsh in re-sentencing Thomas in the Home Circuit Court recommended that he should serve 25 years before he was eligible for parole.
Thomas was sentenced yesterday for the murder of Donovan Brown which was committed on February 4, 1998. On December 3, 2002, he was sentenced to hang for Brown's murder because at the time he had two previous convictions for murder.
Attorney-at-law Carolyn Reid who represented Thomas submitted that he was 17 when he murdered Brown.
NO DEATH SENTENCE
Ms. Reid referred to the Juveniles Act, which states that the sentence of death shall not be pronounced on or recorded against a person who is under 18 at the commission of the offence. She said the appropriate sentence was for Thomas to be detained at the court's pleasure.
Crown Counsel, Melrose Reid submitted that Thomas' case was one in which the death penalty should be imposed because he had no regard for the life of others. However, she said because of the Juveniles Act and the Child Care and Protection Act of 2004, the death penalty could not be pronounced on him. Miss Reid asked the judge to impose a sentence of life imprisonment bearing in mind the number of murders, the circumstances surrounding the commission of the murders and his lack of remorse.
