EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the corrected version of a story in which we originally reported that deceased Fredy Vandal was the victim of a robbery. In fact, the victims were Lechar Charles and Freddy Dejean.
An appeal has been lodged in the case involving two men from Morne Prosper Lechar Charles and Jefferson Dejean who pleaded guilty to man slaughter and were each given long jail sentences by high court Judge Victoria Charles -Clarke. Dejean was jailed for 18 years while Charles was sentenced to 16 years.
Lawyer Tiyani Behanzin has filed an appeal against the sentence contending that it was ‘harsh and excessive.”
Facts of case
On the morning of Wednesday April 13, 2015 at about 8am, Lechar Charles and Jefferson Dejean were robbed by Fredy Claudy Vandal of jewellery and a motorcycle in Roseau.
Vandal and another male individual followed Dejean after the robbery in Bath Estate and warned him that if he called the police, he would be killed. He also threatened Dejean with a block.
Sometime, at about 7:30 p.m. later that same day, Vandal was at Jonathan’s Bar in Silver Lake. Charles, armed with a cutlass and Dejean armed with a sawed off 12 gauge shot gun, waited on the southern side of the road 30 feet from the bar. When Vandal saw them, he said “let him go get his piece” and called Dejean a “pussy” and that he will blow his “pumpkin for him” and he began to run in the direction of a nearby river.
He was chased by both men with Dejean shooting at him which took him [a gun shot] in the right lower ribcage region. He continued to run and both men gave chase he was caught up with by the river bank where he fell to the ground and Charles began striking him with the cutlass. He ran to the river and Dejean took the cutlass from Charles and they took turns in cutting him with it. They ten left him there for dead and ran to their homes.
Both men fully cooperated with the police with Dejean bringing them to the area where he had the gun hidden. He also handed over the clothes he was wearing on the evening of the incident. Charles brought the police to Morne Prosper in an effort to recover the cutlass and clothing he was wearing on the night of the incident. He showed the police where he threw the cutlass and the clothes he was wearing but a search proved futile.
Vandal was killed on April 13, 2015 in Silver Lake.
A post mortem was conducted by the pathologist Dr. Yaima Breachers Muniz and it was concluded that the deceased Vandal died of Hypovolemic shock due to severe hemorrhage, secondary to multiple lacerations to head, neck, thorax and extremities.
Who are paying lawyers for these fools.
Some people will take Justice in their own hands in the climate where there is no equal rights and justice,then the story stated the dead man rob the two guys resulting in his death and some of us tend not to assess where this country is heading.There is a thing call cause and effect what happens at the top will eventually trickle to the bottom and I see this country in free fall while some people sit by and condone all the ills that affect this blessed land. Jah help us all before it’s to late.
Too harsh? well in that case we all need to take the law into our hands. and start shooting people and chapping them when they do us wrong. They took a another persons life thats what was too harsh. Serve allu time and think about what you’ve done.
Give them an additional 20 yrs each…
This is still murder. And while the were guilty of manslaughter, this was still a matter of they taking the law into their own hands. Why wasn’t the police contacted? Too much bloodshed. Throw their key.
You right they should be given more instead of a lesser sentence.
That’s easy to say, bro, but if you were in Dejean’s place maybe you would think differently. Imagine two thugs stole your jewellery and motorcycle then, later that day, threatened to kill you if you reported the incident to the Police, what would you do? Report it, they will kill you. Don’t report it, you are a ……. Its tough, bro.