Citing what was described as the “reckless, callous and merciless” manner in which Orpheus Johnson shot and killed two men and then attempted to murder the fiancée and 18-month-old child of one of them, a judge this afternoon sentenced him to two life sentences.
Among other things, Justice Sandil Kissoon described Johnson as a “serious danger to society” whose existence thus far “speaks of a life of crime.”
The cases against Johnson, the judge said, makes for a “homicide novel.”
Johnson had initially been indicted with murdering Travis Rudder and Gladstone George in 2015, but pleaded last month to the lesser offences of manslaughter in relation to both killings.
His sentencing had been deferred for a probation report from which the court heard yesterday that Johnson’s life had been characterized by crime from his teenage years.
Though Johnson had willingly accepted the roles he had played in each of the killings, and admitted that he had also attempted to murder Rudder’s fiancée, Mawanza Gill, and their 18-month-old son, Jaheem Rudder; he yesterday said that he was innocent of the charges leveled against him.
“I’m innocent. It wasn’t my fault. But I sorry bad to the family. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he told the judge in brief remarks.
Gill in a teary victim impact statement spoke of her son whom she said, even after five surgeries, still lives with a bullet lodged in his stomach; and of her own challenges of having to face therapy because of the injuries she too sustained in the attack on her family.
She said that her son constantly asks many questions of her as he looks at his body and the scar left on his stomach—questions she said she struggles to find answers for.
“You are heartless,” she told Johnson, as she spoke of him depriving her son of his father.
Defence attorney Rachael Bakker had only asked the judge on behalf of her client to temper justice with mercy.
Justice Kissoon said that Johnson’s matters fell into the category of “the worst of the worst” for which he said that life sentences were warranted, while noting that there were no mitigating circumstances to warrant a lighter sentence.
He imposed the two life sentences which he ordered to be served concurrently, for which he said that Johnson is not to be considered eligible for parole until after serving 30 years.
For the attempt on the lives of Gill and her son, the judge then imposed a sentence of 20 years each which he said are also to run concurrently with the life sentences.
The judge further ordered that the prison deduct time for remission
Justice Kissoon said that in order to reflect the revulsion of society to the offences committed by Johnson, he needed to face the full brunt of the law.
The judge told him that he was cold, calculating and without compassion and regard for human life, irrespective of age.
At his arraignment on April 13th, Johnson had accepted that on April 22nd, 2015 he unlawfully killed Gladstone George who at the time was a passenger of a minibus on the Agricola Public Road.
He next admitted to killing Nandy Park miner, Travis Rudder, two months later; and also to charges of attempting to kill the man’s fiancée, Mawanza Gill, and their 18-month-old son, Jaheem Rudder.
The prosecution’s case had been that George was shot to death execution-style aboard a minibus in full view of several passengers at Agricola, East Bank Demerara.
State counsel Tyra Bakker had said that George had been seated in the second-to-last row of the minibus which had made a stop at Agricola, when Johnson walked up to the vehicle and shot and killed the 32-year-old.
She said that Johnson was later picked out at an identification (ID) parade.
An autopsy the prosecutor had said, later revealed that George had died from haemorrhage and shock due to gunshot injuries.
She said he had been shot twice—once to the back of the head, and to the neck.
Regarding the facts as it relates to Rudder, the prosecutor had said that on July 21st, 2015, the miner and his fiancée were awakened at their Lindley Avenue, Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara home by loud explosions.
The miner died after shots were fired through the bedroom window of his residence, hitting him, Gill and their 18-month-old son. They were all taken to the hospital, where Rudder was pronounced dead on arrival, while Gill and their son were admitted.
Gill was shot seven times in the leg and sustained several broken bones. The child, meanwhile, was shot in his abdomen.
According to reports, Rudder, was himself previously accused of murder and other crimes. He was acquitted of the murder of his then 14-year-old girlfriend Donnis King in 2011. He was charged with the murder of a cooking gas delivery-man, the attempted murder of Toney Williams, an ex-policeman, armed robbery, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Stabroek News had previously reported that two attempts were made on Rudder’s life before—in December of 2014 and just a month before he was killed.
Sources had said that men would stake out Rudder’s place and wait for him to return to his residence. One source had said that men would usually linger in the area and on several occasions they lobbed incendiary devices at his home. The source said the men had even burnt his car.
Bakker had said that in an oral statement, Johnson confessed to investigators that he had been part of a plan to kill the miner who had been shot 21 times. On the night in question, gunmen swept into Rudder’s yard and riddled him and his family with bullets.
According to reports, Rudder died on the spot and he was lying on top of his baby trying to shield him. He was shot in his abdomen, right elbow, ankle, groin and foot.
Johnson had previously been charged with the murder of Kaneville resident Brendon Charles in 2009. It was alleged that between April 7 and April 8, 2009, at Kaneville, Johnson murdered Charles, whose body was discovered in a yard several streets away from his Lot 914 Fourth Field, Kaneville home.
In October, 2013, Johnson was freed in the High Court by Justice James Bovell-Drakes after a no-case submission was upheld in his favour.
