Alexander La Cruz and Mark Welch—the two men who pleaded guilty to the murder of Westminster phone card vendor Ron Mansfield back in 2018—have been sentenced to 13 and 14 years in prison respectively.
Underscoring the senseless nature of the killing, fuelled by greed, Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall lamented the manner in which Mansfield who was plying his trade to make an honest living, met his end.
At their arraignment earlier this month, the jointly-charged La Cruz and Welch pleaded guilty to the capital charge; accepting that on the day in question, it was they who murdered the 37-year-old father of two.
Mansfield had been attacked and shot in the chest sometime around 8.30 on the night in question, in what was believed to be a robbery.
He was reportedly returning to his Westmin-ster, West Bank Demerara home after selling phone cards on his motorcycle.
At the sentencing hearing yesterday, while the judge emphasised the aggravating circumstances which arose in the case, she said that the Court needed to also have regard to the mitigating factors.
She was keen in pointing out that while both offenders were equally culpable for the killing, their individual roles nonetheless, needed to be assessed separately.
As it relates to La Cruz, Justice Morris-Ramlall commenced the sentence at a base of 24 years, from which she then made the one-third deduction which the law provides for early pleas.
The judge said that she found no reason to deviate from that mandatory deduction which saved the court considerable time in otherwise having to conduct a trial.
She then noted from the case file that while La Cruz had transported his accomplices to the scene, he was not there at the time of the killing.
Regard was also had by the court for what the judge said she believed to have been the expression of genuine remorse from La Cruz.
In a previous address to the court, La Cruz who was moved to tears, apologised to the daughter of the deceased.
He had told the young woman that as a father himself whose children will be deprived of his presence while he serves his sentence, he could only imagine that it would be much worse for her, having lost her father.
He had told the family of his victim that he was not expecting their forgiveness, as that was not going to change the fact that their loved one was no longer coming home to them; but he did tell them that he was really sorry for what had transpired.
In examining the mitigating factors for which she made a further three-year deduction, the judge also considered from probation and prison reports, that La Cruz seemed on the path to rehabilitation.
A total of 11 years were deducted. From the remaining 13 years, the judge ordered that the prison make further deductions for the period La Cruz would have spent on remand awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, regarding Welch, Justice Morris-Ramlall also commenced his sentence at 24 years, but after crediting him with the one-third deduction for his early plea as well, she made a further deduction of only two years on account of mitigating circumstances.
She did refer to the good prison report which highlighted that he is now an orderly for his fellow inmates at prison.
Welch had played the role of “look-out,” when Mansfield was shot and killed.
After making all the deductions, Justice Morris-Ramlall imposed a sentence of 14 years against Welch; also, with the order for the prison to make further deductions for time he would have spent on remand awaiting trial.
The offenders were represented by defence attorney Tuanna Hardy.
Background
Mansfield succumbed to his injuries while being transported to the West Demerara Regional Hospi-tal.
Following the incident, police in a statement had said that, “the victim who was discovered with a suspected gunshot injury to the body was reportedly returning from selling phone cards on his motorcycle.”
“His bag containing his phone cards and money was not found”, the police said.
