Graham J
IN THE GRAND COURT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS
HOLDEN AT GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN
IND. NO. 64 OF 1997
REGINA
- VS -
OSCAR SANDOVAL
CHARGE: MANSLAUGHTER
PROCEEDINGS HAD AND TAKEN BEFORE
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE GRAHAM,
ON THE 30TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1998,
IN GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN.
APPEARANCES:
For the CROWN: THE SOLICITOR GENERAL, MR. S. BULGIN
For the DEFENDANT: MR. J. FURNISS
1 SENTENCING OF OSCAR SANDOVAL
2 COMMENCED ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1998:
3
4 THE COURT: Mr. Sandoval, I am satisfied that when you went on the 18th of March, 1997 to where your wife was staying with her man friend that you had wanted to get the family back together again. She had left you in February of 1997 to live with a man who had been your joint tenant and I'm sure that caused you a great deal of distress, leaving the children with you.
5 You knew that your wife suffered from a dangerous condition in her head -- I will put this in very plain terms so that you will understand -- and that she had to be very careful as to what she did otherwise she might die.
6 Now your wife is described as an aggressive woman and I'm told she is a large woman. You didn't want trouble that day which is why you went to the police, but having got back to where you lived with your wife, there was a fight between the two of you. I don't know who began it, but there was a fight. You lost your temper in the course of that fight as a result, no doubt, of the provocation you had received from her behaviour by going away with this man. No doubt by things that she said to you in the course of the fight, you lost your temper and
1 you struck her a violent blow on the back of the head. 12:14 PM
2 Something you must have realised was -- however provoked 12:14 PM
3 you were -- that that was a reckless thing to do. That 12:14 PM
4 blow on the best evidence before me led to her death. 12:14 PM
5 Not satisfied with that -- although of course you 12:14 PM
6 didn't realise that she had mortally been struck -- you 12:14 PM
7 went out and armed yourself with a rake which has a plastic operating part -- so it can't have been a very heavy rake -- and you struck her about the body with it. 12:14 PM
8 I have to balance that activity with the fact that the fatal blow had already been struck. 12:15 PM
9 You were frank about it to the police, you were frank about it to this Court. I know well that many a man might have sought to put before the jury a medical issue to try and excuse the inexcusable and I give you credit for that. 12:15 PM
10 I bear in mind that you have already served six months imprisonment, but I have to look at the fact that you killed your wife. Domestic violence, whatever the provocation, is not to be permitted by this Court. 12:15 PM
11 Now you know very well that the maximum sentence for manslaughter is life imprisonment and the standard sentence which the Court gives is between five and seven years. That is the standard sentence for manslaughter. 12:16 PM
12 It is not the sentence that I am going to impose upon you. 12:16 PM
1 Taking into account everything that I have heard about you and it is all to the good, knowing that you have a heavy responsibility for three children, ages nine, six and three, and accepting that you are a man who is devoted to his children and who is a good hard worker who can be expected to be employed again, the least sentence that I can impose upon you having regard to all the facts that are before me is 18 months imprisonment. The time that you have spent in custody already will count towards your sentence; accordingly, you will have six months to serve.
2 That is a merciful sentence, it is designed to be a merciful sentence and the general public must not assume that that is the kind of sentence which ordinarily will be imposed in a case of wife killing. This is an exceptional case and the sentence I impose is an exceptional one.
3 Thank you.
4 The Court wishes you good luck when you are released and I hope that you will re-establish yourself. A lot of people think very well of you, Mr. Sandoval, but the Court cannot pass the matter over. Thank you.
5 MR. FURNISS: I'm obliged, sir.
6 MR. BULGIN: Thank you, My Lord.
7 (COURT ADJOURNED AT 2:43 P.M.)
REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
I, DARCLA C. HEMAK, Official Court Reporter, do hereby certify that the foregoing pages are a true and accurate transcript of the proceedings had in the said Court and reported in machine shorthand by me on the date and place aforementioned.
DATED THE 5TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 1998.