–for role he played in 2008 armed robbery, murder

JERMAINE Savory, 30, was on Monday sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for the 2008 murder of Melissa Payne at Agricola.

A 12-member jury in December 2017 found him guilty of the offence before Justice James Bovell-Drakes in the Georgetown High Court.

Justice Bovell-Drakes told the court that he took into account the felony/murder and the seriousness and prevalence of the offence, owing to the features of the commission of the crime in which a life was lost.

The judge started his sentence at a base of 60 years, and deducted 27 years, which was the age of the deceased when she was killed.

He also deducted 10 years for time the accused would have spent in jail, and a further eight years for good conduct while in prison, even though he never showed any remorse.

In his plea of mitigation, defence attorney Maxwell McKay tried to prevail upon the court that the accused has a 12-year-old daughter he hasn’t seen in the last 10 years; that he’s a family man, and is generally
a good person who has never been involved in anything negative.

Probation and Social Services Officer, Pamela Atwell, also put in a good word, saying, among other things, that the accused has had the benefit of a sound secondary education, is literate, and a skilled mason.

She also said that he’s always denied involvement in the matter, and told her time and again that the ones who committed the act are all dead.

According to the State, Savory, on November 5, 2008 at Agricola, East Bank Demerara, murdered Melissa Payne of Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara on the Agricola Public Road.
Reports are that the incident occurred around 08:30 hrs, and that Payne was killed when she attempted to put up a fight with gunmen who attacked her and a male friend, one David Fraser.
The gunmen reportedly escaped with some $110,000 in cash that was in the woman’s bag along with her jewellery.

At the time of the robbery, Payne and Fraser were heading to Georgetown to conduct business.

The pair was travelling in a Canter truck, which began to encounter mechanical problems as they approached Agricola.

The bandits reportedly struck while Fraser was trying to fix the vehicle, as Payne stood by and watched him.

When Savory was charged in November 2008 with Payne’s murder, he reportedly confessed to the police that he did have a hand in the robbery, but was not the trigger man.