Skatta, Foota Hype Call For Death Penalty For Man Accused Of Killing Family Of Five
Producer Skatta Burrell has expressed unease after learning that Rushane Barnett, a man charged with the grisly murder of his cousin and her four children, including an infant, in Cocoa Piece, Clarendon last week, was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation “following a request from the Crown”.
According to news reports, the presiding judge Justice Leighton Pusey had made the order on Tuesday afternoon when the 23-year-old appeared in the Home Circuit Court via a voluntary bill of indictment. But for Skatta, he had already run out of patience with Barnett and those of his ilk.
“So you mean to tell me this man mental state of mind is more important than the traumatized family members and friends of the Persons he brutally slaughtered? When’s them Hanging? That’s all we care about. Jamaica moving backwards right about now. We really empowering these vampires,” Skatta noted in commenting on an Instagram post on ZJ Sparks’ page.
Prosecutors had requested that a psychiatric evaluation be done for Barnett before he makes his next court appearance on July 22, and according to Justice Pusey, it was necessary that the screening is conducted, based on the offences he had been charged with, to ensure that there are no medical reasons which would preclude him from undergoing trial.
Last week Tuesday, 31-year-old Kemesha Wright and her children, Kimanda Smith, 15, Sharalee Smith, 12, Rafaella Smith, 5, and 23-month-old Kishawn Henry Jr, were discovered inside their Cocoa Piece home with chop wounds and their throats slashed.
Barnett, who had been staying at the house fled the area to the Wilson Run in Trelawny, but was later apprehended by the police, and is now facing the death penalty.
Skatta’s former Downsound stablemate and Calabar High School compatriot Foota Hype, had, after hearing the news of the quadruple killing, had taken to social media, to express wrath, noting that at one point in time any man brazen enough to commit such heinous acts would have been hunted by the public who would exact their own form of justice.
“Jamaica a become a big dutty saaf, p-hole place, like yuh tink dah bwoy deh coulda commit dah crime deh one time and guh noweh inna no community at all? A police woulda haffi come save him ;life when people done wid him,” Foota had declared on Instagram.
“If a when we inna di garrison dem, wi caan sleep, caw wi haffi guh look fi him. A coward soup oonu drink? Which community dah bwoy yah fi inna fi how much hours, how much days? Yuh mad? Mi naw love no demonic pickney… a bwoy weh do a crime like dis, yuh nuhn need no gun! A big stine and knife and (cut)lass kill dem bwoy deh. Dem bwoy fi get bare bullet,” he shouted.
Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, has since served Barnett with a death penalty notice, according to The Gleaner. She stated in a press release, that under section 3(1) of the Offences Against the Person Act, persons who are found guilty of multiple murders in one incident shall be sentenced to life in prison or to death.
She also noted that the death penalty cannot be imposed unless the defendant is given sufficient notice long before the start of the trial.
“In light of the above provisions and a consideration of the circumstances of the case, it has been deemed appropriate by the ODPP for the Death Penalty Notice to be prepared and served on the accused at the time that the Voluntary Bill of Indictment is laid in court,” Llewellyn stated.
“This is to ensure that at the earliest opportunity the accused is made aware of the intention of the prosecuting authority to make the recommendation that the death penalty is an option for the sentencing judge consequent on a conviction after trial for the five counts of murder as outlined on the indictment,” she added.