The former police constable who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Dorothy Prince case has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Observer Media’s Shermain Bique reports that Gideon Jackson was told of his punishment this morning by High Court Justice Keith Thom.
Justice Keith Thom said the four years Gideon Jackson spent behind bars pending trial must be deducted from the sentence. Co-convict and ex-defence force member Timorie Elliott was sentenced to 23 years in jail for murder. Consideration was also given to the four years he spent on remand.
Both Jackson and Elliott were given credit for their expression of remorse in the early stages of the investigation into the February 2012 robbery of Dees service station and shooting death of Dorothy Prince.
Justice Thom has not sentenced the third accomplice Omari Phillip who was found guilty of murder. Judgment has been postponed to no fixed date, so psychiatric evaluation can be carried on Phillip.
The question of Phillip’s mental state was never an issue at trial. It was only brought up last week by a probation officer who conducted a social inquiry about Phillip’s life and found him to be troubled and one with a complex personality.
The judge said none of the three men shot the victim but they would get no credit for that. It was a fourth man, Dion Ticks Thomas who shot Dorothy Prince. Ticks died months after his arrest.