Boynes to spend at least 30 years in prison

in All News, Court / By: BVI News Online on February 6, 2017 at 11:46 AM /

Kenyatta Boynes (in jacket) being escorted from court after the verdict. File photo

Kenyatta Boynes must serve a minimum of 30 years in prison before he becomes eligible for parole in relation to the 2014 murder of Paul Prentice.

Justice Nicola Byer handed down that sentence in the High Court this morning, February 6.

She also sentenced the convict to 10 years in prison for the attempted murder of another man during the same incident in which Prentice was murdered.

It is said that the other man was the gunman’s target, but Prentice happened to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The sentences for murder and attempted murder will run concurrently (at the same time), meaning that Boynes will serve the minimum 30 years.

Today’s sentence won’t start now

Meanwhile, Justice Byer indicated that the sentences handed down today will not take effect immediately.

They will start only after Boynes completes his sentence in an unrelated case of gun possession.
in relation to that gun case, he was sentenced to nearly seven years imprisonment back in March 2015.

While he was serving that time, police charged him in relation to the current case of murder and attempted murder.

‘The court cannot exact revenge’

Furthermore, in relation to the current case of murder and attempted murder, Director of Public Prosecutions Kim Hollis last month said Boynes should not spend his whole life in prison, because his situation is not the worst. Hollis also asked that Boynes be given a sentence ‘just short’ of life imprisonment.

In handing down the judgement today, Justice Byer noted: “I agree there should be no life order.”

She however stated that Boynes’ sentence does not include the time he already spent on remand since his arrest.

The judge, while reading from a 22-page document detailing the particulars of Boyne’s judgement, further said: “The court cannot exact revenge [on murder convicts]. That is not the sentencing role in civilized society. We can only seek to punish for the crime according to law, and leave rest to the perpetrators’ conscience and to their God.”

A nine-member jury found Boynes guilty of murder and attempted murder in October last year.