Melville sentence review put off

CONVICTED teen killer Otis Melville will have to await the outcome of the Chuck Attin appeal before the review of his sentence can continue. Despite arguments by Melville’s attorney Mark Seepersad that the outcome of Attin’s appeal had no bearing on this case and “it would not be in the interest of justice” for his client to wait that long to have his matter completed, Justice Devan Rampersad adjourned the matter until Attin’s fate was known. Rampersad estimates the appeal would come up within the next two months.

When Melville had appeared before Rampersad at the Port-of-Spain Fifth Criminal Court last Friday, the judge had given State attorney Marlon Sambucharan the undertaking to consult with the DPP to consider if the Appeal Court should decide whether the results of a psychological test should be admitted into evidence. The test was conducted by clinical psychologist Dr Krishna Maharaj, who advised the court that it should not rely on the findings to determine if it would be a risk to reintegrate Melville into society. When the matter came up yesterday, Sambucharan told the court that the DPP decided that Rampersad should continue hearing submissions and rule on them. 

Regarding the admittance of the findings of the test into evidence, Rampersad expressed concern about disregarding the findings, noting that the administrator of the test described Melville as “someone who essentially possesses a marked disregard for social rule and engage in behaviours without forethought.” In addition, the judge said, the findings reinforced the verdict returned by the jury, who had found Melville guilty of murder of a defenceless person. “I can’t accept that it was not pre-meditated,” Rampersad said, and asked Seepersad to list the other mitigating factors, apart from Melville’s age at the time of the murder.

According to the defence attorney, Melville was remorseful, and his situation involved less aggravating factors than the Attin case. The judge, however, failed to see how Melville’s claim of self-defence could amount to remorse.  “It is more of a denial,” he said. Melville, of Malick, was found guilty of murdering Lenny Beckles in 1996. Because he was 15 years old at the time, he could not be sentenced to death and was instead sentenced to incarceration at the President’s Pleasure.