In 2012, at Layou, Andy ‘Ginger’ Quashie walked up to the man who had called him a “pussy” as he lay wounded on the ground, and, using a shotgun, he ended his life in the presence of many witnesses.

And last Friday at the High Court, Justice Brian Cottle delivered a final sentence of 35 years imprisonment to the 33-year-old defendant of Layou.

Cottle launched words such as “callous” and “brutal” to describe the murder of Joseph ‘Evans’ Lynch, while weighing the circumstances.

On the fatal day, September 1, Quashie was said to be in the company of one Billy ‘Slip’ Adams and Adolphus ‘Beanie Man’ or ‘Bun Up’ Foye at Layou. Lynch, also a resident of Layou walked by, and he referred to Quashie as a “pussy.”

The three men were upset about the comment, and Adams and Quashie decided to go home to get their guns.

When they returned they saw Lynch walking along the public road, and Quashie used a shortcut to run up to him, firing at him. Lynch was lying wounded on the road when Quashie delivered the killing shot, in full view of many people, and at high noon.

Quashie surrendered himself to the police the next day with his legal counsel Grant Connell.

However, the defendant had a full trial for the matter, which included two counts, murder and illegal possession of a firearm with intent. Karim Nelson and Rose-Ann Richardson prosecuted for the crown.

Connell informed the judge that his client went to the Layou Government Primary school until the age of 13, and after this got odd jobs cleaning the road or helping his mother on the farm.

The deceased and Quashie were friends at one point, and therefore the defendant was remorseful about his death, the lawyer said.

“Although there is some history of bad relationship between Evans Lynch and the prisoner at the bar, Andy Quashie was adamant that bad relationship was mended,” Connell told the judge.

He submitted that the murder was at variance with the Layou resident’s usual character, and referenced the social inquiry report.

“The general spirit of [the social inquiry report] seems to paint Andy Quashie as a friendly character, not a trouble maker in Layou, and one who just used to lime on the block,” the counsel stated, and he also noted that Layou was an area “haunted by fear” and that the citizens asked did not say much.

One middle aged man had apparently told the persons conducted the report that Quashie was “a cool fella” and “never disrespectful”.

The prison authorities described him as quiet, and keeping to himself.

Addressing the word that was said to trigger his client, Connell posited, “the deceased was somewhat an architect of his own demise, in my submission…I am not justifying it, that killing a man over the word “pussy” is justified, but there are certain taunts in this society that trigger reactions.”

The lawyer thought that his client was one who could return to society after serving time.

However, Cottle did not see any mitigating factors, “This was a callous, brutal murder, carried out in full public view, in broad daylight. The prisoner would have known that he was being observed by many of his neighbours; that thought did not deter him.”

Starting at life imprisonment, a period of 30 years, Cottle added the aggravating features, “He was not alone in his enterprise, there were two armed men. There was premeditation, because they went home to retrieve guns then went looking for the deceased. Those weapons were never recovered and they remain a danger to the public.”

Quashie had also been charged before for pointing a pistol at another resident of Layou.

He decided to move upwards by five years, arriving at a final sentence of 35 years, from which time spent on remand was subtracted.

The remaining sentence is left at 28 years and six months.

On the issue of the illegal possession of a firearm with intent, he sentenced him to 14 years, or seven and a half years after the subtraction. Both sentences run concurrently.

This case had peculiar circumstances surrounding its progression through the courts. Billy Adams and Adolphus Foye were originally charged alongside Quashie, but the cases were discontinued against the two. The two became witnesses for the prosecution.

However, Adams met his death on July 27, 2018, when he was shot and killed in front of his girlfriend at Swamp Gut, Layou.