Violence earns 1st offender five years jail

(CNS): A 24-year-old local man with a previously squeaky clean record was handed a jail sentence of five years and two months Thursday after he was convicted for what was described as an “unprovoked and extremely violent” attack. Nicholar Orlando Kerr was convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm following an early morning assault outside the victim’s home in the swamp area of George Town last summer. During the sentencing the court heard that there had been bad blood between Kerr and the victim, known as ‘Ice’, which came to a head when Kerr ran his victim down, crashed into his apartment, engaged in a fist fight and then stabbed him in the chest and neck.

The complainant suffered a punctured lung as well as a serious neck wound and various other lacerations during the attack, which started, the court heard, when Kerr had unexpectedly spotted his victim arriving home after the men had both attended the same late night party in the industrial area of the capital. 

As the complainant arrived home, and was trying to find his keys to open the door, he heard a car revving close by and turned to see Kerr driving the vehicle directly towards him. In an effort to escape the victim dived into a passage but was still struck in the legs by the car, which also smashed into the apartment wall. In a bid to escape his attacker, 'Ice' jumped over the front of the car and began to run but he was caught by his attacker, who had left his crashed car and gone after his victim on foot.

The men reportedly engaged in a fist fight, during which ‘Ice’ was said to have bitten his attacker in the chest, but at some point during the fight Kerr stabbed his opponent multiple times. However, the question of how Kerr got the knife remained unanswered. Kerr claimed it came from his victim while ‘Ice’ said it came from one of Kerr’s friends that had been in the car with him when he arrived at his home.

Following the fight ‘Ice’ was taken to hospital by a person described as a good Samaritan and treated for serious injuries in the intensive care unit.

Meanwhile, Kerr headed to the police station, where he turned himself in, claiming that he had been attacked first and the entire episode was a matter of self-defence. Given the seriousness of his victim’s injuries, he was, however, ultimately charged with attempted murder and an alternative count of wounding with intent to cause GBH.

At first Kerr had denied the charges, pleading not guilty to both counts. But on the morning of the trial Kerr’s attorney made an application, and following legal arguments he agreed to plead guilty to wounding with intent.

The judge heard that Kerr had no criminal record at all, that he was gainfully employed, college educated, from a stable family background and in a stable relationship with his fiancé. He was the father of a young child, with whom he was very actively engaged and paid maintenance for. He submitted glowing references from his employers and pastor to the court and following a social enquiry report Kerr was rated as having a very low risk of re-offending.

The out of character violent attack was described as an inexplicable aberration that may have been connected or motivated by an attack that he said had been perpetrated against him at an earlier date by the victim. Although Kerr reported that attack, no action was taken following police enquiries.

As he imposed a sentence of five and half years on Kerr, in which he had included a six month discount for his very late guilty plea, Justice Malcolm Swift said that the only apparent motive for the violent attack was vengeance. The judge noted that Kerr had been very determined to harm his victim, illustrated by the fact that he smashed up his own car in his efforts to run the man down.

The judge ordered that four months of Kerr’s sentence had already been served because although he had been bailed, he was on an electronic tag and a home curfew of varying hours since his arrest. The judge calculated that the lock-down curfew period of each day equated to a half or a quarter of a day in jail, as he credited him with the time served and sent him down to begin serving the remaining five years and two months.