An attempt by convicted murderer Rushane Barnett to appeal the sentence he was handed for knifing his cousin Kimesha Wright and her four children to death at their Cocoa Piece, Chapelton, Clarendon residence in June 2022 is in jeopardy.

Barnett, who was sentenced by Supreme Court judge Justice Leighton Pusey in October 2022 to five concurrent life sentences, but is, in effect, only serving 61 years and eight months in prison before being eligible for parole, had filed a notice of appeal on the basis that his sentence was extreme.

Barnett is of the opinion that he should have benefited from discounts during the sentencing since he had pleaded guilty early in the process. The Trelawny native was 22 years old at the time of the offences and will not be eligible for parole before his 85th birthday.

But Monday, attorney Kemar Robinson who was assigned to handle the case, told the panel of Appeal Court judges — comprising Justices Frank Williams, Jennifer Straw and Evan Brown — that having reviewed the record of the proceedings as presided over by Justice Pusey, he found that Barnett had no recourse in law to challenge the judge’s decision.

“In reviewing the transcript I found no basis on which I can make submissions on the grounds filed by the appellant,” Robinson told the court.

“At the end of it I formed the view that the learned trial judge followed the proper sentencing exercise as prescribed by the various authorities (case law) and the sentencing guidelines and, for the most part, the procedure is unassailable,” Robinson told the judges.

“In those circumstances I will not be in a position to challenge the sentencing [to show that it is manifestly excessive],” Robinson told the court while making it clear that the convicted man had filed the notice of appeal on his own without the benefit of any legal advice.

The attorney said he has already informed Barnett of his finding.

The Appeal Court panel will later this week, in the interest of transparency, hear submissions from the Crown on the position arrived at by Robinson.

On Monday, Justice Williams, who heads the panel, said after the submissions are heard the panel will determine “what is the best way to deal with this matter”.

The victims — Wright and her children Kimanda Smith, 15; Sharalee Smith, 12; Rafaella Smith, 5; and 23-month-old Kishawn Henry Jr — were discovered inside their house with chop wounds and their throats slashed.

According to Barnett, Wright — who operated a shop at the premises where she lived — had disrespected him in the days before the murders. He claimed that a customer had come to the premises and he served the customer but his cousin was upset and told him he was never to serve her customers and grabbed the cash from his hand and splashed water in his face. He said he was offended from that instant. A subsequent clash with his cousin, he said, led to the stabbings.

After committing the murders Barnett fled to Wilson Run in Trelawny where he was apprehended. He was charged three days later, based on a caution statement he gave to the police.

Barnett narrowly escaped the death penalty after he pleaded guilty to the murders, resulting in the Crown withdrawing the initial notice.

Justice Pusey, in his summation before handing down the sentences, had expressed “eternal hope” that Barnett’s name be forgotten and his victims’ be immortalised.

Justice Pusey, who said he “struggled for adjectives” to describe Barnett’s “direct viciousness”, declared, “What we need to remember in this matter are the persons who lost their lives, and I have deliberately been mentioning their names continuously. I have also been deliberate in not mentioning the name of the accused man because it is my eternal hope that we will forget his name, although it seems as if his name has [gone] wide and abroad.”

In handing down the sentences the judge — who said he deliberately avoided mentioning the details of the injuries of the five deceased, given the presence of their family members in court — said, “This is a crime for which adjectives and descriptions were insufficient and which shocked and horrified a nation, even in this country which has unfortunately gotten too used to murder.”

Justice Pusey, ahead of directly addressing Barnett, said he “found instructive” a note by one of the officials that Barnett — who appeared to be superficially charming, deceitful, lacking in empathy and remorse at the time of the evaluation — had expressed the desire to be given oral medication, placed in a single cell, and to remain in custody for a year before being released on the current charge.

The judge said that the crimes fell under “the most serious category” recognised in law and told the court that in arriving at the sentence he took note of the report of a forensic psychiatrist who, after assessing Barnett, said he had no major mental illness but that he “displayed features which suggest that he has an antisocial personality disorder”.

According to the doctor, he found that Barnett understood the nature of the offence but was not acting under any abnormality of mind when he committed the offence. He said although Barnett indicated that he heard voices, his examination of him did not uncover any signs of delusion in his history. He further said Barnett “appeared eager to deflect responsibility for the alleged offence to his cousin’s mother by claiming that she caused Obeah to be on him”.

Barnett did not benefit from a discount in his sentence because of his guilty plea, given the circumstances of the particular case, Justice Pusey said.

While declaring that the matter “approached the category of one that could attract the death penalty”, Justice Pusey said, “We really have no precedence in our annals and I daresay, I hope we have none after today.”

The judge said the case of Jeffery Perry — who was convicted in 2008 for the 2005 murders of three children in Killancholly, St Mary, and sentenced to life imprisonment on all counts — was the one that came closest, as well as the case of Mark Henry, who was in that same October sentenced to life for the murder of three children, one of whom was his own.

From a starting point of 55 years, the judge added two years for each of the five aggravating factors he identified, taking the total to 65 years from which he then deducted three years for the mitigating factors, which included the four months spent in custody by the convicted youngster.

“His sentence would be on each offence for the lives of Kimesha Wright, Kimanda, Shara-lee, and Raphaella Smith, and Kishawn Henry, a life sentence on each count with eligibility for parole after 61 years and eight months. The sentences are to run concurrently,” the judge ordered.

A forensic psychologist who examined Barnett revealed that he had a tendency to be superficial, referring to a habit of being “smooth and slick”. The expert also revealed that Barnett lacked openness, does not accept responsibility, is unreliable, displays adult antisocial behaviour and lacks empathy.

Barnett reportedly admitted to killing the five but said voices in his head told him to do so. He added that he had been hearing voices since he was 18 years old and that witchcraft was being used against him, causing him to commit the murders.

Police investigators look on as undertakers remove the body of one of Rushane Bennett’s five victims from their house in Cocoa Piece, Clarendon on June 21, 2022. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)