A 24-year-old man from Claxton Bay who admitted to participating in the murder of his neighbour has apologised to the victim’s relatives in a bid to secure early release from prison.
Leston Paul Henry offered the seemingly heartfelt apology in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Criminal Court on Wednesday as he attempted to convince High Court Judge Carla Browne-Antoine to be lenient in sentencing him.
“There is nothing that I can say that could make up for what I did but I am sincerely sorry for your loss,” Henry told Ashford Luckhee’s sister Saleen Gajadhar.
Henry claimed he was haunted by his memories of the crime as he pleaded with Browne-Antoine for a “second chance to be a useful citizen.”
“I cannot attempt to change my past, only my future. I have truly learnt a valuable lesson over the past ten years,” Henry said.
A teary-eyed Gajadhar wept silently as she occasionally gazed at Henry, while he delivered his brief speech from the prisoner enclosure.
Although she was not given an opportunity to respond, her victim impact statement prepared by prosecutors was read in court.
Gajadhar said her family was deeply traumatised by her brother’s murder with their parents both passing away shortly after it had happened.
“He was innocent and did not deserve that kind of death,” she said in the statement.
Henry spent ten years in remand awaiting trial before he opted to plead guilty to the charge in December last year. The two men, with whom he was jointly charged, have maintained their innocence and are yet to go on trial.
Even if the two other accused are eventually convicted, the trio are not facing the death penalty as their crime falls within the felony murder rule. Under the rule the mandatory sentence for murder is waived in circumstances where death occurs during the commission of a lesser criminal offence.
Henry’s sentence is expected to be significantly less than the possible sentences his co-accused may receive because he was 14 years old at the time 54-year-old Luckhee was killed, and he is entitled to a discount on his sentence for his guilty plea.
According to the evidence, on February 7, 2005, Henry and his co-accused entered Luckhee’s home at Tambu Road, Claxton Bay. They attacked Luckhee and ransacked his home before forcing him into his car and driving away in it. His stabbed and chopped body was found days later in Chaguanas.
In presenting his mitigation plea, yesterday, his lawyer Selwyn Mohammed stated that there were several factors in his client’s favour which showed why he should be immediately released.
“He has to live with this for the rest of his life. Surely that alone is punishment,” Mohammed said.
Besides Henry’s age and impoverished upbringing, Mohammed said his client had shown remorse for his role in the crime while he was in the process of committing it.
“At one point in time he attempted to release the deceased but the others held on to the man (Luckhee) and they threatened to kill Henry as well,” Mohammed said.
In response, state prosecutor Shabana Shah rejected Henry’s claim of his “change of heart” as she said it was his decision to tell his co-accused what he had done that led to Luckhee being recaptured shortly after he was released.
Without revealing her decision, Browne-Antoine explained that if she did not find his immediate release to be warranted, he might still be eligible for early release as his sentence would be at the court’s pleasure.
Under the procedure prescribed by the Children’s Act, juvenile offenders are granted periodic sentence reviews, in which the progress of their rehabilitation is assessed to determine if they can be reintegrated into society before their sentence expires.
Browne-Antoine will sentence Henry on May 13.