Sentenced to life back in April for the shooting death of Timehri youth Ronsley Clarke, Travis Evans is challenging his sentence which he describes as severe.
Underscoring the grounds for his appeal, Evans who had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the young man’s killing, advances the argument that since he had thrown himself at the mercy of the court, the sentence imposed was severe.
In his notice of appeal lodged with the Guyana Court of Appeal he has advanced that his plea would have saved the trial court considerable time in otherwise having to conduct a trial.
His contention is that these factors seem not to have been considered by the trial judge in imposing the sentence, which thus makes it harsh.
Emphasizing the prevalence of murders/ homicides, Justice Sandil Kissoon had imposed the life sentence on Evans for what the judge described as a senseless killing.
Evans had initially been indicted for the capital offence, but instead pleaded to the lesser offence of manslaughter; admitting to shooting Clarke over a previous disagreement.
Defence attorney Mark Conway had tried desperately to secure the minimum sentence for his client, but Justice Kissoon had said that given the circumstances under which the young man met his death, he found no factor worthy of mitigating sentence.
The Court ordered that he not be eligible for parole until after serving 25 years.
The judge had described Evans’ act as “heinous,” “calculated” and “deliberate.”
Surmising that at the time the offence was committed Evans may have thought he would never be held accountable for his actions, Justice Kissoon had said that he senselessly killed an unsuspecting Clarke in a most unprovoked attack.
Underscoring the prevalence of homicides, Justice Kissoon said that a strong message needed to be sent to potential offenders.
The charge against Evans stated that on August 2nd, 2018 he unlawfully killed Clarke.
The prosecution’s facts were that on the day in question Clarke was attending a birthday celebration at ‘C’ Field Sophia and was sitting on a horse cart in the company of friends when Evans went up to him and shot him three times, before making good his escape.
Prosecutor Lisa Cave had said that accused subsequently gave a caution statement admitting to the offence; stating that he and Clarke had had a disagreement the day before and that that was his reason for killing him.
An autopsy had revealed that Clarke died from haemorrhage and shock due to multiple gunshot injuries.
