17 more plead guilty as Sentence-Reduction Day heads to St Catherine

SEVENTEEN PERSONS today pleaded guilty to murder and sex-related offences in the St Catherine Circuit Court during the third staging of SentenceReduction Day.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said that four persons pleaded guilty to murder while 13 persons pleaded guilty to a range of sexual offences, yesterday.

They are to be sentenced at a later date.

On Thursday, 40 persons pleaded guilty to several criminal offences in the Home Circuit Court and the Gun Court during the second installment of Sentence-Reduction Day.

According to the Court Management Service, 26 guilty pleas were accepted in the Gun Court for illegal possession of firearm, shooting with intent, and robbery with aggravation.

The remaining 14 guilty pleas came in the Home Circuit Court for the offences of murder, manslaughter, and having sex with a person under 16 years old.

A majority of them will be sentenced on December 15.

DPP Paula Llewellyn said that the 57 guilty pleas would save at least three months of trial time that would be used to hear other cases.

Sentence reduction is one of the initiatives introduced by court administrators to help ease the backlog of cases clogging up the courts.

It guarantees a discount of up to 50 per cent on sentences for persons who plead guilty.