Javon Antonio Johnson has been sentenced to 11 years and four months in prison for shooting a security guard at a West Bay construction site.
Johnson, 23, had pleaded guilty to possessing an illegal firearm with intent to endanger life.
He had originally also been charged with attempted murder, but shortly before the start of a scheduled trial, the Crown accepted his guilty plea in relation to the illegal firearm offence and offered no evidence on the other charge.
Prior to passing sentence, on Friday, 5 Sept., Grand Court Acting Justice Ben Tonner described how, at around 1:30am on 22 Feb. this year, Johnson had approached the security guard at the Birch Tree Hill Road building site.
When the guard told him he should not be there, Johnson reached into his waistband with his right hand and, fearing that the intruder, who was about 20 feet from him, was about to use a firearm, the security guard began to run.
He then heard two gun shots, but kept running until he reached the West Bay Police Station, Tonner said. “On his way there, he felt pain in his lower legs. He had been shot,” he said.
The victim suffered a gunshot wound to his right ankle and also injured his left foot. He underwent surgery to remove the bullet fragment in his ankle, the court heard.
‘I bust them shots’
About an hour after the shooting, police on patrol at nearby Finch Drive stopped Johnson, who was riding a moped at the time. After finding irregularities in his vehicle paperwork, they told him to leave the moped behind and walk home.
“At this point,” Tonner said, “wholly unsolicited, the defendant stated that he was the person that they were looking for. He said, ‘I bust them shots.'”
He was arrested, and in his police interview, when asked why he felt the need to shoot a man who was just doing his job, he said he didn’t know.
When asked where the firearm was, he again responded that he did not know, the court heard.
Tonner noted that when police informed Johnson that the victim had a bullet lodged in his body and that this was a serious matter, he replied that it wasn’t serious, as “he only got shot in the leg”.
Police later recovered two 9mm bullet shells from the construction site, as well as a magazine containing 13 rounds of 9mm live ammunition.
Impact on victim
In a victim impact statement, the security guard noted that he had suffered medically, financially and psychologically from the shooting, the judge said.
He had lost his job in Cayman as he could not work because of his injuries, and had since returned to his home country of Jamaica, where he has found it “nearly impossible” to find employment due to the nature of his wounds.
“He reports that he was shot for no reason,” Tonner said. “He feels traumatised and that he has constantly to look over his shoulder, especially at night.”
A social inquiry report noted that Johnson, a Caymanian national, who is single with no children, had been placed into the Children and Youth Services residential home at the age of 14 because of delinquent behaviour, including truancy and using ganja. Tonner noted that he had previous convictions.
When interviewed for the social inquiry report, Johnson said he had owned the gun “as a means of protection” for a year prior to using it in the shooting.
When questioned, he said it was the first time he had entered the construction site, and he did not know why he went there that night, that “it had just happened”, the judge said.
Sentencing considerations
Noting that the social inquiry report indicated that Johnson’s behaviour over time had escalated in seriousness, Tonner said Johnson’s risk of re-offending was high.
There were two main aggravating factors in the case, he said. Firstly, that Johnson had disposed of the gun, which has never been recovered “and remains in our community”; and, secondly, that he possessed a “substantial quantity of ammunition with the firearm”.
“The defendant was carrying a loaded gun around West Bay at night. He fired it without any apparent reason at an unarmed security guard … [who] could have been killed,” the judge said.
Tonner noted that the Johnson had shown “little in the way of empathy or remorse”.
Stating that sentencing guidelines indicate a starting point of 14 years, the judge added one year for the aggravating factors, but gave a “perhaps generous” 25% discount for Johnson’s guilty plea, for a total sentence of 11 years and four months. Time already served on remand since his arrest will be deducted, he said.
Addressing Johnson, who appeared via video link from Northward Prison, the judge told him, “This offence seems to have been committed without any reason. You will now serve a lengthy prison sentence. You are still a young man, but you are at risk of wasting your life if this type of behaviour is ever repeated. I hope when you are released from prison, you choose a different path.”
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