The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who was convicted of trying to murder his ex-girlfriend has been unsuccessful in appealing his 30-year prison sentence.

In March 2018, a jury acquitted Gary Thurston of the murder of Sekeno Collie and attempted murder of Conceta Lawrence.

However, he was convicted of the attempted murder of Stephanie Kemp and was subsequently sentenced to 30 years in December 2019.

According to court documents, Thurston and Ms Kemp were in a relationship which she ended around April 2, 2016. Days later, Thurston was said to have visited Ms Kemp’s home where he shot her, Mr Collie and Ms Lawrence—Ms Kemp’s school mate and mother, respectively.

After he was convicted and sentenced, Thurston failed to file an appeal within the 21-day statutory deadline for appeals stipulated in the Court of Appeal Act.

When he did file an application for an extension of time one year and two months later, he sought to appeal his 30-year sentence for attempted murder on the ground the punishment was “harsh and unduly severe”.

Yesterday, Justices Sir Michael Barnett, Maureen Crane-Scott and Milton Evans dismissed Thurston’s extension of time application and affirmed his 30-year sentence and conviction for attempted murder after concluding his appeal had “no prospects of success”.

“The factors to be considered on an extension of time application are well known: the length of and reasons for the delay, the prospects of success and the prejudice, if any, to the intended respondent,” Justice Crane-Scott stated.

“The intended appellant is one year and two months out of time and he blames the prison authorities for this period of delay. He submits that his proposed appeal against sentence has good prospects of success due to missteps by his counsel in the court below which resulted in the judge imposing a sentence which was unduly harsh and severe.”

She furthered: “In her sentencing remarks, the learned judge outlined the mitigating factors as well as the aggravating factors, and correctly found that the aggravating factors far outweighed the mitigating factors which she identified. It is obvious that the determinate 30-year sentence which the judge ultimately imposed falls within the range of sentences which are imposable and have been imposed for attempted murder in this jurisdiction. In summary, the court is satisfied that there is no basis on which the exercise of the learned judge’s sentencing discretion would likely be impugned on appeal. Accordingly, the court is satisfied that the intended appeal against the sentence has absolutely no prospects of success.”

The panel said after deducting the four years Thurston spent on remand, he will serve 26 years imprisonment from December 10, 2019.