The Guyana Court of Appeal has replaced the lengthy prison terms imposed on Michael Caesar and Celbert Reece with life sentences, ruling that the original sentences for their roles in the 2008 Bartica and Lusignan massacres were excessive because they effectively went beyond the legal maximum punishment for manslaughter.
In a judgment delivered by Justice of Appeal Jo-Ann Barlow, the court said the attacks at Lusignan and Bartica unleashed “absolute terror” and reflected a “wanton disregard for life and limb,” but stressed that even in such grave cases, sentencing must remain proportionate and within the bounds of the law.
The court found merit in the appellants’ argument that the sentencing method used in the High Court did not follow established principles, noting that the starting sentences would have exceeded the statutory maximum.
The court heard that the Lusignan killings on January 26, 2008, left 11 persons dead, while the Bartica massacre on February 17, 2008, claimed 12 lives, including three members of the Guyana Police Force.
Caesar and Reece had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, while Mark Royden Williams and Dennis Williams had proceeded to trial and were convicted.
Caesar had originally been given 45 years on each of eight counts for the Lusignan killings and 60 years on each of 12 counts for the Bartica killings, all to run concurrently, with parole eligibility after 40 years.
Reece had also challenged his sentence in relation to Bartica. On appeal, however, the court held that if a sentencing court believes an offender deserves punishment as severe as 81 years or more, it should instead impose life imprisonment, since life is the maximum sentence recognised by law.
The appellate court therefore resentenced Caesar to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 calendar years on each of the eight counts linked to the Lusignan massacre, and life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 40 years on each of the 12 Bartica counts. Those sentences are to run concurrently.
Reece was resentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 26 years on each of the 12 Bartica-related counts, with those sentences also to run concurrently.
In arriving at that tariff, the court said it took into account that there was no evidence Reece fired a shot, his expressions of remorse, his claim that he had been threatened into joining the gang, his guilty plea, and his constructive prison activities.
The court, however, declined to proceed with the appeals of Royden Williams and Dennis Williams, holding that criminal appeals are personal to the convicted person and generally die with the appellant unless exceptional circumstances exist.
It said no such exceptional basis had been shown in this case. Royden Williams had escaped from prison and was later killed, while Dennis Williams died while serving his sentence. Their appeals were declared abated.
In its ruling, the court said reputational or emotional reasons for continuing a criminal appeal after death were not enough to justify doing so, and any wider reform on that issue should come from Parliament.
