THE general public has, time and again, expressed disgust at rulings by officers of the court, where, in most instances, the punishment is either too severe for a mere misdemeanor, or too lenient, especially in instances of armed robbery, home invasions, rapes and sexual misconduct, domestic abuse, and even murder in some instances.

On July 17, this newspaper reported that a mason was sentenced to three years for two gunpoint carjackings. Quoting the Chronicle’s report, “Convicted gunpoint carjacker Akeiron Cummings was yesterday sentenced to three years imprisonment on two robbery under arms charges, after changing his plea. The sentences will now run concurrently after the twenty-four-year-old mason accepted the facts against him.
On March 10 he approached taxi driver Colin Williams at the Stabroek Market bus park and requested to be taken to Guyhoc Park.

“Cummings, upon arrival at his destination, brandished a gun and demanded the man’s valuables. He managed to relieve Williams of $3.1M in items, including his $2M car.

“And on March 5, at Diamond Housing Scheme, taxi driver Lionel Seenarine was approached by Cummings for a lift to Durban Backlands in the city. The taxi driver accepted, but upon arrival at the destination, the accused pointed a gun at (the driver’s) head and escaped with the man’s car.

“Before handing down the sentence, the Chief Magistrate took into consideration the seriousness of the offence, the convict’s plea, the saving of the court’s time, and the other pending matters of a similar nature.

“The two-year imprisonment will run concurrently with the other jail term.”

Other pending matters of a similar nature? Is this for real? Newspaper archives are replete with horror stories of carjackings and tragic aftermaths, where bodies of owners/drivers were found subsequent to the theft of their vehicles, or disappeared altogether if they were not lucky enough to escape from the carjacker; while the vehicles vanished as though by magic, right into the maws of unscrupulous mechanic shop owners.

The carjackers –- and I daresay potential murderers, if they have not as yet committed the ultimate crime — then enjoy, along with their relatives and friends, a short time of living well, even luxuriously, off their spoils, before they embark on another foray to wrest someone’s property — and probably their life — away from them.

When caught, they are given a rap on the knuckles by some sympathetic judge or magistrate, then let loose to prey on society and innocent and hard-working citizens once more. The criminals are full of glee, because they are licensed to commit as many crimes as they want by these officers of the court. After all, no matter how many crimes of a similar nature (with the consequential destruction of lives and livelihoods of their victims and their families), their sentences will be reduced to serving minimal time for only one crime, with sentences running concurrently.

As for the dealers who purchase the stolen vehicles, they get off without any sanction whatsoever, because they are given ‘deals’ and not prosecuted at all. As per the Chronicle report: “Before handing down the sentence, the Chief Magistrate took into consideration the seriousness of the offence, the convict’s plea, the saving of the court’s time, and the other pending matters of a similar nature”.

Other pending matters of a similar nature! The Chief Magistrate did not take into consideration the lives this criminal had shattered nor the fact that he is a threat to other potential victims as soon as he is released, less than three years from this date.

Where is the justice?