(CMR) A Jamaican man who was sentenced to six and a half years in prison after he threatened to kill his ex-wife if she did not ensure he got his paper to stay in the Cayman Islands is appealing the sentence.
Mekko Gooden also reportedly further threatened his ex-wife while he was locked up awaiting trial.
Gooden was sentenced last year by Magistrate Vanessa Allard, who used a starting point of five years and then added 18 months because of aggravating factors.
When he appeared in court last week, Gooden's lawyer, Keith Myers, said the sentence was excessive and that some factors that the magistrate considered aggravating should not have been deemed so. He said the victim's impact statement should not have been used to increase the sentence as there was no evidence to back up some of what was stated.
Gooden pleaded guilty to the charge of threats to kill while his trial was underway in 2022 after his ex-wife had given evidence. He was also sentenced for misuse of an ICT network to abuse, annoy, or harass and for causing fear or provocation of violence in relation to a phone call from prison to further threaten her.
Gooden reportedly told his ex-wife that if she didn’t sort out his papers to ensure he could stay in Cayman, he would kill her. He also told her that it would be easy to get a boat from Jamaica back to Cayman to kill her and her boyfriend.
Justice Cheryll Richards is expected to make a ruling on the appeal on Thursday, 28 March.
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