An appeal has been lodged in the case involving two men from Morne Prosper Lechar Charles and Jefferson Dejean who pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were each given long jail sentences by high court Judge Victoria Charles -Clarke. Dejean was jailed for 18 years while Charles was sentenced to 16 years. Darius Jones and Tiyani Behanzin have filed an appeal against the sentence contending that it was “harsh and excessive”.
Facts of case
On the morning of Wednesday, April 13, 2015, at about 8am Lechar Charles and Jefferson Dejean robbed Fredy Claudy Vandal of jewellery and a motorcycle in Roseau.
Vandal and another male individual followed Dejean after the robbery in Bath Estate but was warned that if he called the police he would be killed. He was the deceased threatened Dejean with a block.
Sometime, at about 7:30pm later that same day Vandal was at Jonathan’s Bar in Silver Lake. Charles armed with a cutlass and Dejean armed with a sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun waited in wait on the southern side of the road 30 feet from the bar. When Vandal saw them he said “let him go get his piece” and called Dejean a “pussy” and that he will blow his “pumpkin for him” and he began to run in the direction of a nearby river.
He was chased by both men with Dejean shooting at him which took him in the right lower ribcage region. He continued to run and both men gave chase he was caught up with by the river bank where he fell to the ground and Charles began striking him with the cutlass. He ran to the river and Dejean took the cutlass from Charles and they took turns in cutting him with it. They then left him there for dead and ran to their homes.
Both men fully cooperated with the police with Dejean bringing them to the area where he had the gun hidden. He also handed over the clothes he was wearing on the evening of the incident. Charles brought the police to Morne Prosper in an effort to recover the cutlass and clothing he was wearing on the night of the incident. He showed the police where he threw the cutlass and the clothes he was wearing but a search proved futile.
Vandal was killed on April 13, 2016 in Silver Lake.
A post mortem was conducted by the pathologist Dr. Yaima Breachers Muniz and it was concluded that the deceased Vandal died of Hypovolemic shock due to severe hemorrhage secondary to multiple lacerations to head, neck, thorax and extremities.
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