Twenty-four-year-old Nigel Dodson who back in 2017 burnt a Kaneville house in which 8-month old Romain Seth lived, was yesterday handed a 30-year sentence for the murder of the baby who perished in the fire.
Dodson had been on trial at the High Court in Georgetown before Justice Sandil Kissoon and a jury for the charge which stated that on January 23, 2017, he murdered Seth in the course or furtherance of arson.
After about two hours of deliberations, the jury returned a unanimous verdict, finding Dodson guilty as charged.
Asked if he had anything to say following the announcement of the verdict, Dodson sought to maintain his innocence adding “I still want know why I deh in jail.”
His lawyer Adrian Thompson, however, begged the judge for mercy on his client’s behalf, even as he asked the court to consider Dodson’s youthful age at the time he committed the offence, advancing that there is still chance for him to be reformed.
For her part, however, Prosecutor Nafeeza Baig urged the court to consider baby Seth who lost his life at the hands of Dodson whom she described as a “menace to society.”
She asked Justice Kissoon to also take into consideration that Dodson expressed no remorse for his actions despite the verdict of his peers.
Referencing evidence adduced during the trial, Baig said that Dodson had made threats to the occupants of the house a day earlier, and by his later actions, demonstrated that he was intent on executing those threats.
Justice Kissoon told the expressionless young offender that there was no reason the court could find for his actions of that fateful day which not only resulted in the destruction of a house but more tragic—the loss of an innocent baby.
The tragedy the judge said, resulted in the loss of one life too many, and had it not been for the swift action of the other occupants of the house, the court could well have been confronted with seven deaths instead.
Justice Kissoon told Dodson that while his lawyer asked for his youth to be considered, the court had to weigh that with the aggravating factors as well noting that the baby died before even being given a chance to enjoy life.
Citing case law authority from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Justice Kissoon commenced the sentence at a base of 25 years which he said would be for a manslaughter conviction.
Having been convicted for the capital offence, however, the judge added five years highlighting aggravating factors such as the loss of life, destruction of property and the series of threats which had been issued.
The judge then further ordered that a minimum of 25 years be served before Dodson becomes eligible for parole.
The pre-dawn fire that claimed the life of Seth destroyed the three-bedroom house belonging to his grandmother, dredge owner Michelle Menezes, who had said that her family had previously been threatened.
The prosecution’s case was that Dodson, who lived in the same premises as the toddler, went to Menezes on January 21st, claiming that he had placed a firearm there and was not locating it.
As a result, he was alleged to have told Seth’s grandmother that he was going to set the place on fire and kill everyone in it.
Two days later, the home was set ablaze and the toddler was killed as a result.
