Murder mastermind jailed for 34 years

A MAN will spend 34 years in prison for murder as he apparently ordered another man to shoot a teenager he called his “enemy” because there was a disagreement between them years before.

Having already spent two years and 11 months behind bars while awaiting the outcome of this case, 26-year-old Etson Timm has just over 31 years remaining before he could experience freedom again.

The official version of the murder outlines that Timm, 23 years at the time, told one Jeremy Alexander to take his 9mm pistol and use it to kill 19-year-old Rose Place resident, Deron ‘Precious’ Davy.

Alexander was charged with murder alongside Timm but co-operated with the police and agreed to testify against Timm. His co-operation helped Alexander land a much lighter sentence of eight years, five months and 21 days jail time from the date of his sentencing on April 1, 2022.

Before delivering Timm’s sentence at the High Court last week Wednesday, April 13, Justice Brian Cottle went over the relevant details of the events leading up to Davy’s death on May 8, 2019. The facts are prepared by the prosecution from the evidence provided to them. Senior crown counsel Rose-Ann Richardson had handle of these matters.

It is said that in the wee hours of the morning on May 8 Timm and Alexander were together in Kingstown, as they had been in each other’s company since the previous evening. Alexander was a passenger in the vehicle that Timm was driving.

Timm made a stop at a shop to buy marijuana, and it was at this stop that Timm pointed out Davy who was outside. He told Alexander that Davy was his “enemy” and they had had a disagreement years before.

Timm told Alexander that he wanted to get rid of Davy, and apparently ordered Alexander to kill Davy, threatening Alexander’s life if he did not do so. It is said that Alexander did not know ‘Precious’ but felt he had no choice but to comply in the face of the knowledge that the man next to him had a 9mm pistol in his possession.

Timm drove around the corner from the shop, parked, handed over the gun to Alexander who left the vehicle, donned a mask, and headed back to the shop.

Davy, unawares of the danger he was in, sat on a stool inside of the establishment, was approached by the masked gunman and shot in the head. Alexander fled the scene of bloodshed back to Timm’s waiting vehicle, shooting a round to ward off pursuit. Timm drove them away from the area, and collected the mask and gun from Alexander.

It was apparently at this point that Timm informed Alexander of the identity of the person whose head he had just blown a hole through, telling him this was ‘Precious’ of Arnos Vale.

Davy died as a result of the wound he received. Alexander from the outset co-operated with the police during their investigations.

By way of background on his client, Timm’s lawyer, Stephen Williams told the court last week that his client was economically deprived and did not have the support of his father during childhood.

“…Due to poverty and his personal circumstances, he had to basically – grew up alone basically. He lacked proper parental supervision…,” Williams said.

The lawyer stressed the point of parental supervision, saying “that is important my lord because had he had the proper parental supervision and had he had the proper support from his parents, he probably would have had his own mechanic shop. He probably would have been able to go to Technical College and enrolled in the program to do auto mechanics.”

“So you see my lord, when children are at a young age, if they get pushed in the proper direction they go on the straight and narrow path. With the lack of supervision, parental supervision my lord, one can see how easy it is for a young man at the age of 23 years old to stray off the straight and narrow path.”

Williams told the court that Timm is a good candidate for rehabilitation because of his relative youth at the time of the crime, remorse and skills as a mechanic.

The defence attorney asked the judge to consider in his calculations that Timm “did not fire the

fatal bullet that caused the death of the deceased albeit based on the evidence before this court that he may have spurred on the other accused.”

Williams also submitted that “from the evidence, there was no sophisticated level of planning in relation to this offence.”

However, Justice Cottle did not agree with this point when delivering his sentence.

When listing aggravating factors of the offence of murder, he reasoned, “I think there was a significant degree of planning or premeditation in the sense that the prisoner brought a gun to the scene, gave the weapon and instructions to Alexander, remained stationed in a nearby getaway vehicle.”

It was also noted that the murder was in full view of the public, that, “The attack was entirely unprovoked. The victim was caught completely unawares. The gun has not been recovered.”

On the other hand, Cottle found no mitigating features of the crime.

While he has a previous conviction for unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition, Timm is considered as having no previous convictions as this occurred sufficiently long ago that the court could not count it.

On the other hand, the judge listed a number of factors in his personal circumstances that mitigate, some that had been outlined by his lawyer.

He is still a relatively young man with a five year old son, “…has a good prospect for rehabilitation. He has expressed genuine remorse for his actions. He was only 23 at the time of the offence.”

His dropping out of school early, life of poverty, lack of parental guidance, and resultant poor socialisation were also noted.

“Counsel for the prisoner also urged the court to bear in mind that this prisoner did not fire the fatal shot. But while the prisoner did not personally discharge the weapon it is clear that his was the controlling mind behind the killing. The victim was not even known to the co-accused. I therefore do not consider the fact that he did not himself pull the trigger to be a mitigating factor,” Cottle noted.

On the scales of justice these features served to balance themselves out, and there was no shift to the sentence of 40 years that the court began with.

While Timm pleaded guilty, he did so at the “very latest” opportunity, after getting advice from a lawyer and learning of Alexander’s fate and intended testimony against him. Nevertheless, the court did not have to go through the trouble of a trial.

Therefore, while a one third deduction is usually given as a result of an early guilty plea, Cottle allowed for a 15% subtraction instead.

This took the sentence down to 34 years. As at last Wednesday Timm would have spent two years, 11 months and three days on remand so that he had 31 years and 27 days remaining from that date.