Court: Eight Year Sentence ’Manifestly Excessive’
The Bermuda Court of Appeal has found that the sentence of eight years handed down to Joeshun Russell is ”manifestly excessive and therefore should be reduced,” with the Court saying they “have come to the conclusion that the right sentence” is six years imprisonment.
Mr Russell, 40, was jailed for numerous offences of dishonesty, around 30 in total, including burglary, obtaining property by deception, making and using false instruments, and taking a scooter without consent. The offences spanned October 2013 to March 2014, and the total amount involved was around $7,000.
The Court ruling said, “The appellant had been released from prison in September 2013, very shortly before these offences commenced and was in fact serving a period of probation that had been ordered to follow his prison sentence.
“The sentence he had been serving was 15 months followed by two years’ probation and that was imposed on 18 February 2013 for amongst other offences, burglary.
In stating their ruling, the Court of Appeal said, “We have come to the conclusion that the total sentence of eight years is manifestly excessive and therefore should be reduced.
“We have come to the conclusion that the right sentence for the whole of this offending is a total of six years imprisonment and that will be imposed by virtue of six years for the burglary offences with three years’ imprisonment concurrent for all the other offences, with the taking of the vehicle without consent being two years’ imprisonment.”
The full Court ruling follows below [PDF here]:
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