Justice Brassington Reynolds last week imposed an 11-year sentence on Kevin Joshua who threw a corrosive liquid on Harlan Rose causing permanent disfigurement to the back of his head and along his left side.
The 26-year-old Joshua had been indicted with the principal count of inflicting grievous bodily harm with an alternative count of throwing a destructive substance. However, the 12-member mixed jury last month returned a guilty verdict at the Berbice Assizes with respect to the first count. Sentencing was then deferred for a probation report. The attack occurred at Victoria Street, Cumberland, East Canje, Berbice on July 9, 2012 and Rose was 15 years old at the time.
In her report, Senior Probation Officer Egla Babb noted that residents of varying areas where the convict lived had revealed that they were afraid of him because he regularly traversed the streets using expletives, obscenities and instilling fear. On the other hand, some members of the public said the accused was a good person.
Addressing the convict in the dock, Justice Reynolds lamented the moral and social decline in the country which he said was largely due to the intrusion of prohibited substances.
“It would seem to me, that there is no relief. The abuse or misuse of prohibited substances by our young men has taken on epidemic proportions. Our social capacity structure seems incapable to treat the spinoffs, to arrest, or to take action.
‘It is also unfortunate, our inability at the level of social protection, our capacity to afford our young people psychiatric attention, that they clearly need.
“In addition, in Berbice, I don’t know if there is more than one psychiatrist, and I am not sure whether the psychiatrist is sufficient or versed to be able to appreciate the complaints of such nature.
“However, this is no excuse for such action. The other side of the story is Harlan Rose will have to live with the unsightly disfigurement for the rest of his life.”
State Counsel Stacy Goodings, prosecuting, had led the evidence of four witnesses who had given sworn testimonies about the incident.
