SIBLINGS Jamelia and Javone Leslie, who had pleaded guilty to the gruesome murder of a woman and her two young children in Mavis Bank, St Andrew, in 2018, scored a minuscule victory on Friday in the Court of Appeal which reduced their pre-parole sentences by seven years and three months.

Jamelia Leslie, a 32-year-old former quality control inspector, and her brother Javone Leslie, a 31-year-old construction worker, were sentenced in 2019 to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to the stabbing death of Kasheif Jackson, 36, as well as the murder of her week-old daughter Aranza Williams, and 23-month-old son Aviere Williams, both of whom died after their house was set ablaze.

The murders arose out of a love triangle between Jamelia Leslie, who was involved in an intimate relationship with Jackson’s common-law husband, 42-year-old farmer Artnel Williams, who is the father of the two deceased children. He had also fathered a child with Jamelia Leslie.

The siblings were given three life sentences for the murders but were ordered to serve 36 years in prison before parole for Jackson’s murder, and 21 years pre-parole for the children’s. They were also sentenced to 10 years for the arson.

However, Jamelia, through her attorney Andria Whyte Walters, and Javone, through his attorney Sanjay Lewis, had argued for a reduction in the pre-parole sentences. Additionally, the Crown had submitted that the trial judge erred in determining the starting point in relation to the first count (the mother’s murder) and had asked that the pre-parole period be adjusted to 29 years.

The Court of Appeal, by a majority but with one judge dissenting, affirmed the 10-year sentence for arson and the three life sentences. However, the court reduced by 14 years the pre-parole sentence for Jackson’s murder from 36 years to 22 years, but increased the pre-parole sentences of 21 years for the children to 28 years and nine months, resulting in an overall reduction in the pre-parole sentences of seven years and three months.

The sentences commenced running concurrently from June 7, 2019.

At the sentencing hearing in June 2019 Justice Lorna Shelly Williams remarked that this was one of the worst cases she had ever seen.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, in giving the background of the case, said that on July 18, 2018, about 10:15 am, Jackson and her two children were found dead inside their home covered with evidence of burning and soot. There was no sign of forced entry.

“The post-mortem examination revealed that the deceased received several stab wounds to the face, chest, abdomen, arms, and neck. However, the cause of death was stab wounds inflicted to the neck and smoke inhalation. The cause of the death for the deceased’s two children was determined to be smoke inhalation,” the State prosecutor said.

Artnel Williams, in his statement, had admitted he knew about threats from Jamelia Leslie to Jackson and jealousy. He also stated that Leslie was financially supporting him and the children he shared with Jackson.