He tried to commit suicide once and his persistent use of drugs and alcohol from the time he was 14 years old has landed 42-year-old Winston DaCosta Haynes in jail.
Trial Judge, Mr. Justice Christopher Blackman yesterday sentenced the landscaper of Bush Hall Yard Gap, St. Michael, to eight years in prison for arson; five years for unlawfully and maliciously inflicting serious bodily harm on Myril Proverbs and five years for similar offence on Shauntelle Riley, all occurring on September4, 2000. The sentences will run concurrently.
Earlier in the Assizes on May 3, Haynes had pleaded guilty in the No.3 Supreme Court and was remanded in custody pending a pre-sentence report.
The report was read to the Court yesterday be senior Probation Officer with the Probation Department, Phyllis Beckles.
Among other things, she said that he was expelled from Secondary School when he was 15 years old because he was under the influence of alcohol.
In addition, the report further noted that Haynes, a father of a 20-year-old, started using alcohol when he was 14 years old; marijuana at 15 and cocaine at 16.
He also spent six months at the Psychiatric Hospital and was a resident at Verdun House.
It was there that he met Myril Proverbs and although the staff tried to discourage a relationship between the two, they left and had been living together for three years.
According to the report, Proverbs started drinking again and sometimes when Haynes came home she would be gone for an entire day, and when she returned and found no food, a quarrel would develop.
The report added that sometimes she referred to Haynes as a dog. On the day of the incident, the two had a quarrel, the Police were called and Haynes took his clothes and left, but returned later and committed arson.
According to the report, Haynes said that Proverbs was verbally abusing him and he could not deal with it. The report said that some of Haynes' relatives described him as "a good person turned monster".
Proverbs' relatives on the other hand, said that she aggravated the situation and Haynes was kind to her. They also accepted the letter of apology Haynes wrote to them.
According to the report, Haynes once tried to commit suicide and took an overdose of pills.
In the facts outlined by Crown Counsel, Alliston Seale earlier in the trial, as a result of a quarrel between the two the day before the incident, which caused police to ask Haynes to leave the house that he shared with Proverbs, he returned in the early hours of the morning and threw gasolene on Proverbs and started a fire.
He said that he wanted the two of them to die together so that problems would be solved.
Proverbs jumped from the bed and tried to escape, but Haynes held her down and after a struggle of some time, she jumped through the window. Haynes tried to pursue her but she got away and was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where she was detained for a month.
Proverbs had invited Riley to stay at the house because she had no place to go, and she too was burnt about her body. |