So, let us start with what we have heard so far, in this “in camera,” yet
publicly disgraceful situation! Melissa was initially said to have died of
“natural causes,” in her sleep because naturally, Silvera lied! This lady
went to bed, in her own home, and was dead the following day.
Now that we have also heard that one of her young sons found her on
the ground in her bedroom, what happened then? She died in her sleep
and then rolled off the bed? So many “mysteries” yet so little time.
How was he even given the option to plea manslaughter? Again, my
continued disgust with the “justice” system in this country — of which I
am a part, since I am a Justice of the Peace and a Lay Magistrate — is on
an all-time high, as for me, this colossal injustice, this travesty, is clearly
due to the defendant’s political affiliation and his socioeconomic status.
Diss yah a nuh nuh poor man from dung suh, legal outcome. How does
one move from the fact that Silvera shot his wife in her vagina, and now
we know, also her lower abdomen; places he must have researched, to
figure out what could most easily go undetected, and therefore get
whomever initially looked at her to think her death was from natural
causes, to go to her funeral and bawl, and perpetuate the lies, but to
have manslaughter on the plate at all, when this should obviously be
deemed murder.
To think about where to shoot her, especially since his fallacy of a
“provocation” claim, says it happened after an argument, makes it even
clearer that remeditation should be considered. If it was that he
snapped and shot her, would his thoughts have gone to where the
shots ended up being? Crimes of passion including guns usually see the
shots placed in the head and the heart, not in the lower abdomen. The
mere fact that those places where she was shot is pure unadulterd,
murder.
Why then, was he given the opportunity to plea manslaughter, and why
did the prosecution accept this plea, and then, Sykes accepting it?
This is an outrage, and like I said before, could have only been given to
someone of privilege, because there is no way in the double hockey
sticks that a man who lived below Half-Way-Tree, given these same
facts, would have been given the chance to claim manslaughter, much
less have it accepted by the prosecution and the judge. Never!
This is the ultimate victim-blaming; kill a defenceless woman in her own
house, and then blame her for her husband using his gun to inflict three
wounds to her body, in places where they could go undetected, so it
can be passed off as her dying of natural causes, and then to claim he
killed her because he was provoked? What the actual crap is this?
Manslaughter indicates that he had no intent on killing her. Yet,
according to him, he was upset and fired shots “in her direction” and
then by some miracle, his shots caught her where they did. Seriously?
And what of the fact that he changed the tiles, painted the room and
even changed the mattress? According to this man, he “didn’t know he
couldn’t make changes after the incident”, but he knew he killed her, so
again, he knew that this was an attempt to cover up his murder.
And let us talk about even if it was “provocation” as in, they were
having an argument about their dead son, and she blamed him for the
death. So, tell me now, what kind of precedence is now being set?
What fresh hell is this that is now being unleashed on women, and men
too for that matter? If you are having an argument with your spouse,
it’s now okay to shoot them dead, or kill them by whatever other
means, and then plead manslaughter? Are they saying that once you
are “provoked” then killing your spouse means there was no intent to
kill them, really? In fact, I would say that saying you shot your wife
three times during an argument because she “provoked” you, is clear
intent to kill, and accepting a manslaughter plea under these
circumstances is nonsense! This acceptance should be deemed criminal
in and of itself.
This humungous travesty of justice is both heartless and dangerous.
That a blatant murder can be allowed and accepted as manslaughter
and worse, given what was told to the court: we argued, she blamed
me for the death of our young son, I fired shots in her direction, not
intending to kill her, then left the apartment. Afterwards I returned and
changed the tiles, repainted the room and changed the mattress, and
all of this caused what should be a learned prosecution and judge to
accept a plea of manslaughter? If this wasn’t so serious, it would
actually be laughable due to the clownish rendition of this BS plea. The
folks in the “justice” system who sat there and allowed this to happen
should be ashamed of themselves, and a people with sense and a
conscience should not shut up and take this obvious miscarriage of
justice.
The proverbial slap on the wrist has already happened in the
acceptance of this stomach-turning manslaughter plea. Now, let’s all
see what the continuation of the slap on the wrist will be when the
sentence is handed down on March 6. The man slaughtered Melissa,
and then the system helped to murder her…. again. Disgraceful!
Marvette C Facey-Dobbs is a Social Worker, Counsellor, Gender Equity
Advocate, Mindset Transformation Facilitator, Justice of the Peace,
and Lay Magistrate
