REPUTED leader of the Westmoreland-based King Valley Gang, Derval “Lukie” Williams and his sidekick Christon Grant, who were on Tuesday sentenced to eight years for plotting to murder a prosecution witness while behind bars but who will in effect only serve three years and six months because of time already spent in custody, have indicated that they intend to challenge that decision in the Appeal Court.

The sentences were handed down by Supreme Court Judge Justice Carolyn Tie-Powell on Tuesday in downtown Kingston, following the trial of the two who had spent four years and six months in custody waiting for the matter to be heard. Williams and Grant are among three alleged King Valley Gang members who had remained behind bars in relation to other crimes, after being freed by Chief Justice Bryan Sykes in July 2020 when that gang trial collapsed.

According to evidence led by the Crown during the trial, a mere month before the chief justice’s ruling, correctional officers, during searches of the prison cell occupied by Williams and Grant, discovered cellular phones which the men claimed belonged to them.

The phone claimed by Williams was discovered in the ventilation area at the back of the cell while the handset claimed by Grant was found in the groove beneath a five-gallon water bottle, held in place by a bar of soap. The men were charged under a four-count indictment, with one count each of conspiring to murder and one count each of concealment of a prohibited article.

Justice Tie-Powell, in handing down her ruling Tuesday, sentenced the men to a year each for the concealment charges, noting that the statute prescribes a fine of $1,000 or one year behind bars upon conviction. She, however, noted that given the fact that they had already spent four plus years in custody, that one year would have already been served by them both. In relation to the conspiring to murder counts, the trial judge, with the starting point of seven years and six months, said the aggravating factors — such as the fact that the murder was being plotted while they were in the custody of the State — demanded that she conflate that figure to 10 years. That 10 years, however, was reduced to three years and six months each for the two, after deductions for the time already spent behind bars, mitigating factors such as positive community reports, and the fact that they had no previous convictions.

However, seconds after Justice Tie-Powell made her ruling a glum Williams, who had sat stock-still throughout the sentencing address, motioned to attorney Abina Morris who represented them both, along with attorney O’Neil Brown. A brief moment later, Morris, in addressing the judge, gave oral notice that the men intended to challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.

Justice Tie-Powell described as “egregious” the actions of the men from behind bars while noting that the “level of callousness” in their conversation “was frightening”. She said her decision to use a higher starting point than the usual five years was because of the “seriousness of this offence”, the “scant regard for the witness as a human being” displayed by Williams and Grant, as well as the “increasing prevalence of threats and harm to witnesses in court cases”.

The judge, in noting that lesser sentences could not be justified, said it was hoped that the penalty would serve to “punish and hopefully discourage like-minded individuals”.

Last Thursday, attorney O’Neil Brown, in his plea and mitigation address before Justice Tie-Powell, arguing that the sentence for concealment had pretty much already been served, had opined that based on the law, the men, given the four years awaiting trial, should not be sentenced to more than two years.

Grant and Williams were found guilty by Justice Tie-Powell in July this year. In one of the 10 voice notes with the assassination plan, which were played into the records of the court, Grant was heard saying if Williams wanted to, “dirt” [slang for murder] the witness, he should, “mek mi know weh yuh want. Anyting yuh a pree, jus’ let mi know so mi can organise di ting…yuh know di ting — element a surprise”.

Several notes later a voice identified by prosecution witnesses as belonging to Williams is heard saying, “mi a guh dirt har man, mi a guh dirt har, fi real man. Mi a guh do it, mi a guh do it”.

Grant was then heard spurring Williams on by saying, “mi wouldn’t mind wi use one stone and kill two bird. Mi woulda jus waan yuh do so and do so and juss slap one, two, three one time an leff di whole place weeping and mourning”. According to the evidence, Grant had gone as far as to tell Williams that he would find out the work schedule of the witness in order to organise her death, as the COVID-19 pandemic had made it so that, “everybody deh a dem yard”.

The legal woes for the two self-appointed businessmen are, however, far from over as the Jamaica Observer was reliably informed that they are currently before the court to face anti-gang charges in relation to the previously mentioned King Valley Gang.