R v Ira Maynard

• Jurisdiction: Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Judge: Morley J
• Judgment Date: 13 December 2023
• Judgment citation (vLex): [2023] ECSC J1213-1
• Docket Number: CASE SKBHCR 2023/0014
• Court: High Court (Saint Kitts and Nevis)

Rex

and

Ira Maynard

CASE SKBHCR 2023/0014

IN THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN SUPREME COURT

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

APPEARANCES

Mr Teshaun Vasquez for the Crown.

Mr Cheley Hamilton and Mr Bervis Burke for the defendant.

SENTENCE

For manslaughter by elderly man of cousin during family argument with single stab to the heart

Morley J

1 Ira Maynard aged 70 (dob 10.06.53) falls to be sentenced on a plea of guilty to manslaughter by reason of provocation, where on 02.07.19 when aged 66 he stabbed his cousin Devis Manners aged 58, with whom he was living, in the heart during a family dispute.

2 Ira Maynard was from Nevis, and for many years had been a chef in the US, returning in 2013 when aged 60, his parents having passed, asking to live in Pitcairn St Newtown with his aunt Laura Manners, who agreed, then aged 94, living with her son Devis Manners, then aged 52. After some time, for some years tensions arose between the two men sharing space, where Devis cared for his mother, and complained Ira did not contribute to the household. Devis had two brothers, Ceephas Manners and Jospeh Jones, who tried to mediate the dispute, asking Ira to leave their mother's home, which he agreed, but did not do. Matters culminated in Ceephas and Joseph intervening on 02.07.19 when Jospeh warned one might kill the other; Devis was out, and in the living room they reiterated Ira should leave, who again agreed, Laura now 100 being in her bedroom; Jospeh called Devis on the phone, who then came home; Ira said he was contributing to the household and showed a rice meal he had been cooking in the kitchen, Devis said he was lying and he wanted him to leave, and at this point, having come from the kitchen into the living room, Ceephas saw Ira produced a 12-inch kitchen knife hidden in his waist and stabbed Devis once to the heart, perforating his left ventricle, who collapsed, and Ira ran off; then Ira later was arrested near Basseterre police station, accepted he had stabbed Devis, and said he had disposed of the knife as it was ‘exhibit A’ 1.

3 Though charged with murder, the Crown accepted a plea of guilty to manslaughter on 29.06.23 on the basis the pressure of the long running dispute, facing hostility from the three brothers, and principally from Devis, though only verbal, led to Ira snapping and losing his self-control.

4 Ceephas and Joseph declined to make victim impact statements and it is noted Laura passed at 100 within about a month of Devis.

5 A social enquiry report dated 15.09.23 by probation officer Lauston Percival described Ira as quiet, calm, respectful, and well-mannered. There is evident remorse, as expressed through his cooperation with police and his plea. Officer Percival suggested a probation order of two years.

6 Ira Maynard has no previous convictions on St Kitts. However, there is a relevant conviction from Miami in the US of an assault on 19.12.11 where he had a knife hidden in his waist, and became violent with a woman who owed him money, leading to probation, which he breached, and so he was deported back to St Kitts. The incident report states:

VICTIM MARSHALL STATED DEFENDANT MAYNARD LIFTED UP HIS SHIRT EXPOSING A POCKET-KNIFE (6 INCH BLADE) STATING TO VICTIM MARSHALL “I'LL KILL YOU BITCH”. CONTACT WAS MADE WITH DEFENDANT MAYNARD CONCERNING HIS INVESTIGATION. DEFENDANT MAYNARD SPONTANEOUSLY STATED THAT VICTIM MARSHALL OWES HIM FORTY DOLLARS, SO HE

APPROACHED THE VICTIM (MARSHALL) WHILE SHE WAS WALKING WITH WITNESS MS. PERRYMAN AT 3RD AV & NW 11TH ST AND DEMANDED HIS MONEY BACK. AN ARGUMENT STARTED AND DEFENDANT MAYNARD STATED THE VICTIM (MARSHALL) AND WITNESS (MS. PERRYMAN) STARTED FIGHTING WITH HIM. MR. POLITE (INDEPENDANT WITNESS) STATED THAT HE OBSERVED THE DEFENDANT APOPROACH VICTIM MARSHALL, AT WHICH TIME HE THEN BEGAN PUNCHING HER IN THE FACE AND LIP AREA.

7 Delay in sentencing arose owing to Ira's state of health, requiring medical reports, from hospital physician Dr Bichara Sehaly dated 28.10.23 and prison medical officer Dr Richardson dated 04.12.23. Now aged 70, Ira suffers type 2 diabetes with hypertension, and from 10.04.22, he spent four days in hospital having suffered an acute ischaemic thrombotic stroke, leading to some weakening in his hand and leg on his left side, though manageable on medication, his being reviewed by Dr Richardson on 29.11.23 as being in a good stable condition.

Constructing the sentence

8 Attention has been paid to the UK case of R v Clarke and R v Cooper 2017 EWCA 393 which considers how to approach sentencing an elderly person, there aged 101 and 96, to prison for historic sexual offences, where the headnote reports, adopted here, from a strong court of five led by Hallet VP:

By the time very old offenders fall to be sentenced, the question of rehabilitation is unlikely to be significant. Nor is...