Trio serving 80 years jail time seeking to overturn murder conviction

Three men, who are each serving 80-year sentences for the 2012 murder of Glen Xavier are appealing their convictions and sentences.
In 2017, a 12-person jury convicted Steffon Campbell, Faisal Moore, and Ray Yokum of the May 9, 2012 murder of Xavier, which occurred at the Cornbread Mini Mart at D’Urban and Lime Streets, Georgetown.
The sentences were imposed by High Court Judge Navindra Singh. The trio have now moved to the Court of Appeal complaining that their convictions had several problems owing to errors made by the trial judge. As a consequence, they are contending that the convictions could not stand, and were asking that they be set aside along with the sentences.
Based on reports, 26-year-old Xavier of Harlem, West Coast Demerara, was fatally shot when the trio, who were armed with guns, stormed the Mini Mart. After the robbery, they escaped with an undisclosed sum of cash on two Honda CG motorcycles. Xavier was shot to his chest and left arm and later died. His cause of death was given as haemorrhage and shock due to gunshot injuries.
In passing the sentence, Justice Singh underscored that such violent acts would not be tolerated by the courts. He noted that a strong message needed to be sent to potential offenders and the scourge which seemed to have overtaken society would not be tolerated by the courts. In fact, one of the men’s lawyers begged the court to temper justice with mercy, but Justice Singh declared that “there will be no mercy”.
In doing so, Justice Singh started the sentences at a base of 60 years, and made several additions, all of which amounted to another 20 years. The Judge added on more years to the base sentence for the use of guns during the commissioning of the crime, public endangerment and other factors. The jailed men will only become eligible for parole after serving 40 years.
During their trial at the High Court in Demerara, 14 witnesses were called by State Prosecutors. The jury deliberated for a little over six hours, and only emerged once for further directions, before returning the unanimous guilty verdicts, in relation to each of them.