Will ex-JDF soldier get the death sentence?
FORMER Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier Corporal Leslie Moodie will know today whether he will be given the death sentence for the 2008 murders of four patrons at a nightclub in Kingston.
The sentencing could not be carried out yesterday, as scheduled, because the Crown did not complete its submission in support of the death penalty for the 33-year-old ex-army man.
Moodie was assigned to the JDF Coast Guard’s Engineering Unit up to the time of his arrest for the Heroes Day massacre inside the Double Diamond night club at the Boulevard Shopping Centre on Washington Boulevard in Kingston.
Earlier yesterday, Moodie’s legal team, led by attorney Pierre Rogers, made an impassioned plea for the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment instead of the death penalty.
Rogers readily admitted that the circumstance of the murders were “horrible and extreme” but said that there were strong mitigating factors against the death penalty.
He reminded the court that a witness had testified that shortly before the incident Moodie had intervened as peacemaker in an incident between his friends and other men; that he was drinking heavily; and that there was an element of provocation.
In addition, Rogers told the court that Moodie’s “exemplary record”, up to the time of the incident, was a strong factor and that his “reasonable prospect” for reform should also be taken into consideration.
“When all the considerations are sifted through and weighed against each other, the option stipulated by law is life imprisonment,” said Rogers, who noted that Moodie does not pose a continued risk to the society.
The small-framed Moodie sat quietly throughout the lengthy proceedings, showing no emotion except when he acknowledged the presence of his former colleagues from the JDF upon being led, handcuffed, into court. Relatives of at least one of the deceased persons were also present.
Moodie was earlier convicted of shooting to death 19-year-old Dijan Powell, William Wilberforce, 28, Davian Kerr, 19, and Lynchmore Forbes during an altercation at the club.
Eyewitnesses testified that Moodie was inside the club acting in an obnoxious manner and harassing women during a party. He went berserk after he was challenged about his behaviour and pulled his licensed 9mm pistol and began firing.
The defence had argued that Moodie, the father of a three-year-old son, fired in self-defence.
During the sentence hearing, Moodie’s supervisor at the JDF Coastguard since 2005, Abraham Miller, master chief petty officer, Class One, said the convict got along well with everyone and never had to be disciplined under his watch.
Asked by Rogers about the incident for which Moodie will be sentenced, Miller said, “I’m shocked”.
Huxley Subarney, Moodie’s former deacon at the Faith Cathedral Deliverance Centre along Waltham Park Road in Kingston said during the hearing that he was extremely surprised about the killings, as he knew Moodie to be a “good behaving person”.
Attorney Michael Deans also appears for Moodie.