‘John Small’ gets 26 years in jail for wounding with intent, gun possession
A MAN WAS sentenced to prison for shooting another man three times in his foot after becoming aggravated that a car light was shone in his face.
Ronald ‘John Small’ Isaacs, 43, appeared at the High Court before Justice Brian Cottle on July, 29, 2024 where he was sentenced to prison for wounding with intent, and for possession of a firearm with intent to injure.
The facts are that on February 24, 2022, two women arrived in Little Tokyo in a car and Isaacs protested that the vehicle light was being shone in his face.The women responded that the area was dark.
When they drove away, Isaacs ran after the car and an argument ensued.
The boyfriend of one of the women, who is also the virtual complainant in the matter, Philroy Matthews, was nearby.
Matthews told Isaacs not to verbally abuse his girlfriend. They pushed each other, and Matthews drove home with his girlfriend.
While Matthews was speaking with two friends on the roadside near his house, Isaacs drew a gun from his waist and shot Matthew’s in his leg. His girlfriend was at a window when the incident occurred.
Isaacs also fired two gunshots in the air. Matthew reported the matter to the police.The maximum sentence for wounding with intent is life imprisonment, and the maximum sentence for possession of a firearm with intent to injure is 20 years imprisonment. Justice Brian Cottle considered that Isaacs is a father of six and is the only source of support for his children.
Cottle added that Isaacs also assists his mother and that she urged the court to be lenient with her son as he is not the sort of person to start trouble.
However, Cottle said that Matthews suffered serious physical harm and that he received three gunshot wounds in his right leg.
He added that the incident could have cost him his life. As a result of the injuries, Matthews had difficulties standing and he was unable to work. Justice Cottle placed the offence in Category one, Level A, as a weapon was used to commit the offence.
He then began sentencing at 22 years and six months in prison. Aggravating of the offence was that the shooting occurred in the presence of other persons on a public road.The offence was also motivated by revenge.There were no mitigating factors of the offender. Aggravating of the offender was that he had previous convictions for violence and unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13 where he was given a custodial sentence.
There were no mitigating factors of the accused.
The aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors so two years were added to his sentence.
Issacs was sentenced to 24 years, and six months in prison. He had already spent 21 days on remand.
Therefore, he will serve a remainder of 24 years, five months, and nine days for wounding Matthews with intent.
As for the offence of possession of a firearm with intent to injure, Justice Cottle considered that Issacs discharged multiple rounds of ammunition to create terror, and that the firearm had more than two rounds, so he placed the offence in Category one, level A and began sentencing at 15 years in prison. Cottle said that he had already taken the aggravating and mitigating factors into account when sentencing Isaacs for wounding with intent so he will not consider them for this offence.
Therefore, for the offence of possession of a firearm with intent to injure, Isaacs was sentenced to 15 years in prison, to run concurrently with his previous sentence.
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