Contractor Robert Benn, who shot and killed the driver of a car who had turned onto his driveway in 2016, was yesterday sentenced to 6 ½ years in jail after pleading guilty to a charge of manslaughter.
The businessman was also sentenced to four years for the attempted murder of a woman who at the time was a passenger of the car.
Benn was initially indicted for murder, but pleaded to the lesser offence of man-slaughter, accepting that on August 23rd, 2016, he unlawfully killed Collin Perreira. He also pleaded guilty to discharging a loaded firearm at Gail-Ann Chacon with intent to murder her.
In an impassioned plea for clemency before Justice Navindra Singh, defence attorney Dexter Todd said that his client was truly remorseful for what he had done and sought to ask the court to consider Benn’s early plea.
Outlining his client’s academic and professional achievements before incarceration and even while behind bars, Todd presented Benn as an upstanding citizen worthy of a second chance of being reintegrated into society.
The lawyer said that given his client’s good standing in his community and the instrumental role he plays behind bars towards the advancement of conditions in the penal system, there is no question as to his strides at rehabilitation.
Counsel said that Benn “no doubt” realizes the gravity of his mistake and is making every step to better himself. He noted that his client was the holder of a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and at the time the offence was committed, he was pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration.
The lawyer said that from the beginning the now 42-year-old has realised the harshness of his decision in pulling the trigger and has spared no opportunity at reaching out to the family of the deceased.
The lawyer said that while he is by no means justifying his client’s actions on the night in question, he reacted impulsively out of fear due to threats to his life, home and business, which he had been consistently receiving months prior.
Todd said that as a result of these circumstances, when Benn saw the vehicle turn swiftly and suddenly onto his bridge, he resorted to his licensed firearm, not with the intention of killing anyone, but as a resort to “preemptive force” in a bid to protect himself, family and property.
Describing what he said was the compassionate character of his client, Todd said that Benn had sought to provide Perreira’s family with monetary compensation but that his efforts were characterized by some as representing a sinister motive and were resultantly aborted.
In his tearful address to the court, an apologetic Benn said he regretted his actions and took full responsibility; while stating that because of all the threats he had been receiving, he acted instinctively.
While surmising that saying sorry would in no way compensate for the loss of life, Benn nonetheless asked Perreira’s family to forgive him and added that he wished he could turn back the hands of time and change all that had occurred.
But Prosecutor Tyra Bakker asked the judge to consider that a life was lost by Benn’s “reckless” actions for which she said a strong message needed to be sent to society, particularly about the use of a firearm in such a manner. She then urged the judge to impose a sentence that would reflect the nature and gravity of the offence.
Bakker had said that on the night in question at about 7.48, Benn was sitting with his wife on their lawns when the car made a sudden stop and with high speed turned onto the driveway of Benn’s Perry Street, Tucville, Georgetown home. The prosecutor said that it was at this time that Benn whipped out his firearm and discharged several rounds, which hit Perreira and Chacon. Perreira would eventually succumb to his injuries.
Deserving justice
Perreira’s mother, who attended the hearing addressed the court, tearfully recalling the moment she received the call about the shooting to death of her eldest son, whom she said deserves justice to the full extent of the law.
She said that her granddaughter, Perreira’s only child, also deserved justice for the loss of her father.
The woman said that her son had been gunned down in cold blood and while Benn’s family can still see him, she has been deprived the same privilege of seeing her son.
She described her son, an excavator operator, as loving and said that not only does she miss him but cries for him every day as well.
The woman said that she had spoken to Benn after his incarceration and had even visited him in prison but not once did he appear remorseful for her son’s death. She said that he had also written her, but sought only to explain why he did what he did, but not accepting responsibility for what he had done.
She sought to make it clear, too, that at no time did she or anyone from her family ever receive/accept any monetary compensation from Benn.
Justice Singh in his address prior to imposing sentence said that having assessed the evidence provided by the state, Benn’s actions seemed to have been based more on fear and not borne out of an aggressive intent to kill.
Against this background the judge said that he could see how the quick and sudden reversing of the vehicle onto the driveway could have caused alarm, especially given the threats which Benn had been receiving.
The judge said that while Benn’s actions were not justifiable, they are explainable.
He then said that in imposing sentence, the court needed to weigh factors of rehabilitation and deterrence with a reasoned approach.
On this point, the judge said that given Benn’s character in and out of prison, there have no doubt been signs of rehabilitation and as it relates to deterrence, he said that while the court would not condone the reckless use of a firearm, it did not view the events in question to have been born out of malice.
In the circumstances, the judge sentenced Benn to 6 and ½ years for the killing and four years for the attempted murder, and ordered that they be served concurrently and that the prisons make deductions for the time the offender has been incarcerated.
