There was no anger. But the 20-year and 10 months prison sentence slapped on former People’s National Party Member of Parliament Jolyan Silvera for the November 10, 2023 killing of his wife Melissa elicited disappointment and resigned acceptance among her relatives outside the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston, Friday afternoon.

In contrast, family members of the former politician, who were in court, declined to comment after Chief Justice Bryan Sykes handed down the punishment.

“It was fair,” Arthur Foster, a cousin of Melissa Silvera, responded to a question from the Jamaica Observer.

Lise Walter, another cousin, said based on how the chief justice broke down the aggravating and mitigating factors which led to his sentencing decision, she learned something new. As such, the sentence, she said, was “just even”.

Melissa’s brother, Chris Walter, was among members of the family who expressed disappointment with the sentence. He felt it should have been more, but acknowledged that he had to respect the decision of the chief justice.

“I am disappointed. He didn’t get enough years. I am not pleased at all,” Walter said.

Another sibling of Melissa’s, Sandra Walter, felt that Silvera received too many discounts in sentencing.

“He deserved more [years in prison]. It is hard to say how much more I believe he should have received, but I thought the discounts were more than he deserved,” she explained.

Walter Davis, Melissa’s cousin, was the most vocal of the relatives.

He told journalists that he was happy that justice had been served, but was still a bit unhappy.

“We thought that the aggravating factors would be more than the mitigating factors. It is what it is, and he definitely has to now recognise that he has to do the time for the crime he has done. All in all, we are happy with the length, but we could have been a little happier. I think we would have wanted the full 25 years’ imprisonment. That would have made us 100 per cent happy,” he said, adding that the family has more closure now than it did before.

“It is just for us now to reflect again as a family. The whole point of this is to make sure we humanise Melissa and that she was not just an ex-politician’s wife and she was not just another female who was killed, but she was a person, a cousin, a mother. We will continue… to reflect on her that way. Her memory will always be alive,” Davis said.

Silvera was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for the offence of using a firearm to commit a felony. On that charge he will be eligible for parole after 13 years. That should not impact his sentence for manslaughter.

Davis added that the family will have to continue to support Melissa’s two children.

“The children are well. They are settling down and they are in school. As you can imagine, as children, losing their grandmother six months before losing their mother and now this circumstance has happened with their father. As adults, none of us can deal with that, much less children. They are good and will continue to be good,” he said.

“As a family we will continue to wrap our arms around them and support them. They don’t really talk about the incident. We are doing our best to make sure mentally that they can stay afloat as much as children can. Where they do speak about it, as family we don’t shield it. We listen and as best as we can [and] provide counselling,” he shared.

Stating that he believes Silvera’s guilty plea was strategic, Davis expressed surprise at the consideration for parole on count 1 on the indictment.

“The case has methodically shown that it was a strategic move. Nobody deserves to have a family member die then have a cover-up at the end. It is unfortunate, but we agree that it was a strategic move. We were a bit surprised at the end where the matter of parole came up. As a family we would have wished that there was no entitlement to parole, but the justice system allows somebody to have parole and it is within the law, and the judge sees it fit. Our feelings are our feelings,” he told the Observer.

Both the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and attorneys representing Silvera agreed that the decision to accept Silvera’s guilty plea for manslaughter instead of murder, with which he was originally charged, was the right move.

Prosecutor Dwayne Green, who marshalled the case, told journalists that, at the end of the day, justice was served.

“Each case turns on its own set of circumstances. We had to make decisions in this case based on consultations in the office, based on the evidence, and based on who the witnesses are. At the end of the day the collaborative effort in the office and our case file preparation led us to accept the manslaughter plea and to put ourselves in a position to address the court on sentencing,” he said.

Director of Public Prosecutions Claudette Thompson said she was not privy to backlash on social media as a result of the acceptance of the manslaughter plea as she is not a social media user.

She debunked the view held by many that manslaughter automatically attracts a lower sentence than murder.

“Persons who have been found guilty for manslaughter got 20 years and 10 months. For murder, sometimes the sentence is just that. I never felt like the public was on my back. Most persons, when they hear about manslaughter, they think of a motor vehicle accident and somebody has died. Education is what is required. I didn’t feel the public was on my back. I knew that when I got into court they would hear more,” she said.

“I am not on social media and I am not listening to that. When we have a file and we read and prepare the file, we look at the law, and this decision was based on law. That is it. I want the public to appreciate that when you talk about going to a trial, you are talking about getting witnesses to come to court to go into the witness box and hopefully they say what they said in a statement sometime ago, almost verbatim,” Thompson explained.

“We are talking about putting two little boys in the witness box to talk about what they are saying that daddy did in respect of mommy. I think we made the right decision. That is something that needs to be taken into consideration as well. We look at the law, we look at the material we have, and we look for the witnesses to come to court and basically be consistent in what they said in their statements,” Thompson said.

“Where the law is concerned, and where the statement that the accused man gave is concerned, it was glaringly obvious that he had the partial defence of provocation.”

Silvera was represented by King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie and Patrice Riley.

One character witness who appeared in court on behalf of Silvera said that the former politician was usually someone to walk away from conflict and was not a violent person.

He begged the judge for leniency.

Another character witness described Silvera as a good father and a calm, relaxed and jovial person.

He said Silvera’s guilty plea was a shocker to him. It made him feel gutted, disappointed and hurt.

Walter Davis, a cousin of Melissa Silvera, speaking with journalists outside the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston on Friday after Silvera’s husband, Jolyan, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing her. Photo: Joseph Wellington

Dwayne Green (right), assistant director of public prosecutions, leads other Crown counsel from the Supreme Court on Friday after the sentencing of Jolyan Silvera for manslaughter in relation to the 2023 killing of his wife Melissa Silvera. Photo: Joseph wellington

Director of Public Prosecutions Claudette Thompson answers question from the press outside the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston on Friday after former People’s National Party Member of Parliament Jolyan Silvera was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing his wife. Beside Thompson is Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Wayne Green. Photo: Joseph Wellington