Gardner, Dickinson Receive Life Sentences
Following a trial where they were found guilty of the murder of George Lynch, Wolda Gardner and Rickai Dickinson were both sentenced in Supreme Court this morning [Sept 17], receiving life sentences, with the condition they must serve 25 years before being eligible for parole.
Mr Lynch, was shot and killed while standing outside a Midland Heights Crescent, Hamilton Parish home at around 10.30pm on May 5th, 2010.
On the first count of the premeditated murder of Mr Lynch, each convicted man received a sentence of life in prison with a minimum of twenty-five years to be served before they can be considered eligible for any parole.
On the second count of using a firearm to commit the offence, each man was given a ten year sentence with this sentence to be served concurrent with the twenty-five year sentence.
For both men, time already spent in custody is to be taken into consideration.
Before sentence was passed, each man was asked if he had anything to say. Gardner, 34, [pictured] stood and claimed: “I had nothing to do with this crime.” Dickinson, 29, stood and replied: “No.”
Before handing down sentence, Justice Carlyle Greaves called it a “terrible case” that was a”aimed directly at the heart of our judicial system.”
Justice Greaves said incidents surrounding the murder showed that there had been a deliberate and gang-related attempt to instil fear in both witnesses and members of the jury in a trial that had just ended on the night of the murder.
Justice Greaves said: “Mr Lynch was a man who was making a contribution to society.”
Referring to the fact that both convicted men had criminal records, Justice Greaves said these “are two people who have never made any contribution to the good of mankind. But they get to live on, at the expense of taxpayers including Mr Lynch’s family who are taxpayers.”
Saying he is “bound by the rulings of the Privy Council,” Justice Greaves: “Because of the state of the law in this country, these two will one day walk free. It is no wonder that some say that there is no justice.”
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It’s unfortunate that though one receives a life sentence they’re still eligible for parole after serving 25 years
Shouldn’t life be just that…life?
Well I never!!!! ” I had nothing to do with this crime” Well which one? Whoever kills I hope they have nightmares and never have a good night’s sleep until you confess!
They can go in and study and become lawyers. And get a first class education. What an opportunity. But they cannot bring back the life they took no matter how many times they say they gave their life to the lord and are reformed men. SAD, SAD, SAD AND NOT A WORD ABOUT black men since the PLP has been in opposition. What ever happened to that report that put a lot of money into pockets but appears to be buried.
Walda, bwad boy, don’t pickup the soap. Ive seen many tough guys go into casemates and now westgate.
Most go in a tough guy and come out with a few secrets? Shhhh Go in a baad mon gangsta but we all know …you just got 25 to WIFE!
LOL,,,we know your “down low”, Westgate secrets.
Good sentence may the family fine peace!!!This is some type of justice to the family and no slap on the wrist.
Thank the Privy Council and Mother England for the injustice system here.
No, thank our legislators. We are a self-governing territory, which includes our legal system! We write the laws, the Privy Council just applies them.
You are correct, but the UK has denied us the right to sentence our criminals to longer then 25 years. Everyone who was given the 28 yr sentence has since appealed the sentence and had their sentence reduced back to 25 years.
That’s only because that’s what Bermuda’s laws provide for.
Did the judges who should have, no, who did know full well that this was the case, been held accountable and reimbursed the taxpayer or Govt.?
you are not correct,there are many old English Laws which apply to this Island.
Re-read the comment @ CBA, yamon is being sarcastic and thanking for an “injustice” system
Yes, that’s what he said, and he’s wrong.
Ridiculous, uneducated comment Yamon. Blaming Mother England is like blaming MacDonalds for obesity, WE have administered our own legal system for decades.
Intelligent comments from Justice Greaves though.
who cares. everyone knows Bermudians use and talk slang. you don’t have nothing better to say? knowing full well that person is obviously Bermudian so they are going to talk and type the way all Bermudians do.
Are you saying this sentencing was unjust? If so, I agree. They should have received 50 years each for robbing that man and his family of his life.
ALL Murderers should be Executed
What happened last time Bermuda executed murderers?
Weeks of riots and curfew and heavy handed play of the race card.
Hang ‘em both. Tomorrow. This society is so, so nanny cuddling. They will be out in 10 years only to murder again…
Only if it’s premeditated, then I would agree with hanging or even executions by any other means. But for certain convictions of murder then life should be life…
Absolutely Raymond… absolutely if premeditated… which in ALL shootings in Bermuda are. One will have to get the firearm, ammunition. By obvious deduction, to possess an unauthorized firearm with ammunition, in Bermuda, is premeditation to use it to kill. (and if life is life then we are looking at spending approx. 30years x $85000 per person = $5.1m – 30 years is life expectancy and is a very conservative number, and if 50 years then it increases to $8.5m – and inflation will probably take that to over $12m) However, we could save a bunch of cash and slap his wrists and ask him to promise not to do it again.
If not mistaken can’t we also send them to our motherland or possibly pay far less monies to some other country to house these “undesirables”?
You mean “their” motherland and let them be in the place “we” displaced them from?
Where you think most of our law comes from?!
It is passed here, by us. The Privy Council can’t change our laws.
I feel sorry for Justice Greaves. Nothing worse than being incapable doing justice for someone – especially a judge….
Let me guess. You’re not a lawyer, are you.
Well at least waldo won’t be too hard to find up westagte
- – Saying he is “bound by the rulings of the Privy Council,” Justice Greaves: “Because of the state of the law in this country, these two will one day walk free. It is no wonder that some say that there is no justice.” – -
And it aint the first time either . Maybe Justice Greaves has a different take on ‘Justice’ here as opposed to certain other people. Maybe they should get together and they could hash out their differences.
To me it sounds like he’s suggesting they should have hung. Now that would have been justice.
George was such a lovely guy, I’m glad justice is served and hope this brings his family some peace of mind.
I pray that whenever it is time for their release the family and friends of the victim come out and speak before the court. They must keep pressure on the court system to never release these 2 animals!
Write letters and make phone calls. Justice Greaves perhaps can find some kinda loop hole in the law. We can’t just walk away and say “oh what a shame” we must show the justice dept this young man has not been forgotten just because the law says! Call get updates on whats going on with the case even when they are in jail. I know it can work but we must be STEADY,STRONG & CONSISTENT! THIS TYPE OF CRIME SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN BERMUDA
Madame Guillotine in King’s Square, St.George’s would liven up the Old Towne!
Guess you didn’t read the article
Life should be life, i.e. death. No reason we should be paying to keep a roof for and feed these scum.
Walde you have been heading this way all ya life! I bet ya gona spend many of nights crying….. Take you that!
If the judge wanted to give them more time then why run the sentences concurrent instead of consecutive. So if u kill on person and I kill ten they will give you life and me ten life sentences to run concurrent , we will be doing the same amount of time. Can somebody explain why the hell we give sentences to run concurrent ??