“Short Boss” gets life imprisonment for gunning down mason

− “This is the gravest offence that can be committed by man on his fellow man” − Justice Kissoon

Having been unable to identify “a single mitigating circumstance”, Justice Sandil Kissoon on Thursday sentenced 26-year-old Travis Evans to life imprisonment for manslaughter.
Earlier this month, Evans was arraigned before Justice Kissoon for the August 2, 2018 murder of 21-year-old Ronsley Clarke. Then, the murder accused opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. Sentencing was deferred to Thursday.

The Prosecutor had stated that on August 2, 2018, Clarke, a mason of Timehri, East Bank Demerara, and his girlfriend were at a birthday celebration at “C” Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown. While Clarke was sitting next to a horse cart with his friends, Evans walked up to him and shot him before making good his escape.
He was subsequently arrested, and according to the prosecutor, he gave Police ranks a caution statement in which he stated that he and Clarke had had a disagreement a day before, and as a result, he shot him.
Reports are that Clarke was shot to his right-side rib and his right-side upper back in the presence of his girlfriend. His cause of death was given as haemorrhage and shock due to gunshot wounds.
During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Justice Kissoon told Evans, “This is the gravest offence that can be committed by man on his fellow man.”

Taking that into consideration, the Judge noted that although the matters highlighted in mitigation were considered, they would not be of tremendous aid, given the circumstances under which Clarke had met his demise.
According to the High Court Judge, apart from sexual offences, which account for a large portion of matters listed in the criminal assizes, murder also dominates the list. Considering this, Justice Kissoon emphasised that the Court must be cognisant of the presence of homicide in society.
As such, he noted that the Court is duty-bound to impose a sentence that would reform Evans, and deter other like-minded individuals who might have intentions of committing murder.
In the end, Justice Kissoon sentenced Evans to life in prison, and ordered that he should become eligible for parole only after serving a minimum of 25 years behind bars.
Evans is also charged with the 2018 murder of 46-year-old Gregory Frank. That charge against Evans alleges that between July 31 and August 2, 2018, at Kuru Kururu, Linden-Soesdyke Highway, he murdered Frank during the course of a robbery.
According to reports, Frank, a legal clerk, was found lying in a pool of blood in his Lot 686 Kuru Kururu, Linden-Soesdyke Highway home. The gruesome discovery was made by Frank’s father after he suspected something was amiss and decided to check on his son.
A post-mortem performed on Frank’s body revealed that he died as a result of asphyxiation due to compression injury to the neck, compounded by blunt trauma to the head.
Moreover, Evans is awaiting trial at the High Court in Demerara for rape. It is alleged that on October 30, 2010, in the county of Demerara, he engaged in sexual penetration of a woman without her consent.
He has also been charged with robbing the same woman of $650,000 on the same date, while being armed with a knife. He has pleaded not guilty to this charge, but was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
Evans was among three prisoners who escaped from the Lusignan Prison in October 2018. For that offence, he has also been sentenced to a term of imprisonment. (G1)