Brighton man gets 30 years in jail for murder

A resident of Brighton was sent to prison for 30 years after he was found guilty for murdering a man who was “involved” with his former lover.

Kishorn Sayers, who was 26 years old at the time of the offence, appeared at High Court #1 before Justice Brian Cottle on Tuesday, April 30,2024, where he was sentenced to prison for murdering O’Donald Sylvan Nanton of Diamond on August 16, 2019.

Sayers was arraigned on September 26, 2019 and initially entered a not guilty plea. However, “at the 11th hour,” he changed his plea to guilty.

The facts are that Sayers was in a relationship with a woman. That relationship lasted a few months and ended in February, 2019. In June 2019, the woman was “involved” with Nanton up to the time of his death. As a result of their relationship, Sayers had threatened to kill Nanton.

On the night of the incident, Sayers met the woman and Nanton in a vehicle together. He was armed with a gun. Sayers threatened to kill Nanton, and the woman screamed. There was a struggle and a gunshot rang out. Sayers told the woman to keep the shooting a secret, and choked her until she agreed. She experienced difficulty breathing.

Sayers threatened to kill her if she reported the shooting, and then he fled the scene. Nanton died from two gunshot wounds, one of which struck him on the left side of his chest, and went through his heart and liver. Sayers was located and arrested.

Sayers is now 31 years old. The court heard that his formal education ended in form two following a fight with another student. He worked with his father as a labourer until his father passed away. Sayers also suffered a gunshot wound to his head in December, 2018 and was discharged in 2019. He used marijuana up to 10 times a day and was diagnosed with amnesia and bi-polar disorder.

Sayers has expressed remorse for his actions, and indicated that the struggle was initiated by Nanton. Residents described Nanton as a kind individual. However, Justice Cottle considered how Sayers took a firearm to the scene and used it to kill the victim. He began sentencing with a starting point of 40 years. Aggravating of the offence was that it was committed in a public place where there was a risk of danger to others.

The court also found that the attack was unprovoked, the weapon involved in the offence was never recovered, there was “obvious premeditation” when the offence was committed, and that the offence was “obviously motivated by jealousy. “ Mitigating of the offender was that he was relatively young at the time of the offence, he has shown remorse for his actions, and he had no previous convictions.

Sayers was offered a one-quarter discount as he did not plead guilty at the first given opportunity. This deduction resulted in a final custodial sentence of 30 years imprisonment. However, he has already served four years, eight months and 11 days on remand. Therefore, he will serve a remainder of 25 years, three months and 19 days of the sentence.