18 years jail for killing taxi driver

Chad Eastman, 31, of Maloney Gardens, was yesterday sentenced by Justice Carla Brown-Antoine in the Port of Spain Second Criminal Court, after he pleaded guilty to felony murder; a classification of murder which no longer carries an automatic sentence of death.

The rule empowers judges to bypass the mandatory death penalty for murder in lieu of a prison sentence in cases where a person kills another while committing another criminal offence.

Eastman, who was represented by attorneys Larry Lalla and Jagdeo Singh, will serve eight years and six months of the 18 year sentence as he has already spent nine years and six months on remand awaiting trial.

Prosecutors attorneys Nigel Pilgrim and Giselle Ferguson-Heller represented the State.

Anslem Regis, 43, in 2003, became the country’s 105th murder victim, when he was abducted, robbed and shot in the head on June 11.He was then thrown out of his car by the killers who escaped in his Honda Civic.

A witness to the shooting contacted police and at about 1 am the following day, police led by PC Simeon Guellmo, were on mobile patrol when they saw the four assailants at Welcome Road, Cunupia.

The car was intercepted, the were arrested and a homemade double barrel shotgun was found.

Stolen items and ammunition were also discovered.

Eastman said on the night of June 11, 2003, he and the other men went to the Pinto Road Taxi Stand where they entered Regis’ car after which one of the men pulled out a shotgun.

He said when the car slowed down, he and a third man jumped out when they heard a loud ringing sound and blood was spraying from the driver’s head. The driver, he said, fell out of the car and they drove off.

At yesterday’s hearing, victim impact statements from Regis’ wife, Eula, and their son Marvin were presented to the court.

Marvin Regis, who was 13 at the time of the killing, said his father’s death affected him with his school work and he became detached.

Eula Regis said her husband’s murder impacted her family badly.

She said her children had to undergo counselling and she still sees the pain and sorrow etched on their faces.