Court slash sentence from 88 to 46 years for woman killer
A man, who was sentenced to 88 years imprisonment for murdering his 20-year-old ex-lover on Old Year’s Day of 2013, has received a sentence reduction by the Guyana Court of Appeal.
In January 2016, Jermaine Maynard, who is now 51, was found guilty by a 12-member mixed jury of murdering Carlissa Matthews whom he shot in the head at Stabroek, Georgetown on December 31, 2013.
In its ruling rendered on Monday, the appellate court upheld Maynard’s murder conviction but reduced his sentence from 88 to 46 years.
In so doing, Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards found that the sentence imposed by trial judge Navindra Singh was excessive and not in keeping with established sentencing guidelines.
As such the Court of Appeal set aside the sentence imposed by Justice Singh. The base sentence was set at 30 years to which the appellate court added 10 years for premeditation and six years for Maynard’s previous similar conviction, thereby arriving at a final sentence of 46 years.
Besides the Chancellor, the other judges on the panel included Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory-Barnes, SC, and Rishi Persaud. Maynard was presented by Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes and associates while Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Dionne McCammon appeared for the State.
It was reported that minutes before the shooting, Maynard had approached the young woman, who had severed their relationship six months’ prior, and requested to speak with her. After the woman declined, he left and returned with a gun and shot her in the head.
It was reported that after receiving the shot to the head, the woman fell to the ground, and Maynard stood over her and continued firing. The injured woman was picked up and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where she died the following day.
Following the shooting, Maynard fled the scene but was captured three days later at the ‘back track’ crossing at Springlands, Corentyne, Berbice as he was about to board a boat to Nickerie, Suriname.
Before he killed Matthews, Maynard had been previously found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for killing another woman, with whom he had shared a relationship.
