A HIGH COURT judge is expected to review the sentence of a former teenage killer next month to determine if she is to serve out the remaining two and a half years.
Justice Devan Rampersad ordered the preparation of various reports by November 4, so he can review Teneka Granger’s sentence.
This will be done ahead of the three-year interval which was set out in the Chuck Attin ruling in 2005 as the fixed period for reviewing the sentence for a youth offender convicted of murder.
Granger, now 28, pleaded guilty to the murder of Dwayne Hills, her then-boyfriend, on April 6, 2012. She was 17 at the time.
The judge had invited submissions from Granger’s attorney public defender Michelle Ali and prosecutor Veonna Neale-Munroe on whether the old law, of sentence by the court’s pleasure, or the new law, which allows a judge to set a determinate term of years, should apply in this case.
Taking into consideration various factors, the judge chose to sentence Granger under the old law of the court’s pleasure.
Granger, also called Aneka, Neka and Smally, had also requested a maximum sentence indication (MSI), or the sentence tshe is likely to receive if they plead guilty, and accepted it, since the death penalty could not be imposed on her.
Rampersad began with a sentence of 23 years, from which two years were deducted for her good character, her age at the time she killed Hills, and efforts at rehabilitation. Granger received a further seven-year deduction from her sentence for her guilty plea and remorse, and the 11 years and six months she spent on remand awaiting trial were also subtracted from her sentence. That left her with two years and six months to serve.
The judge will, however, review the reports, once received, and decide whether Granger should be immediately released on probation or should serve out her term.
In a plea for mitigation, Ali pointed to Granger’s rehabilitation efforts. Granger is a broadcaster on the women’s prison radio station and completed her CXC studies as well as a number of courses in grow box, hydroponics, anger management and life skills, among others.
According to the evidence, a neighbour heard the couple quarrelling at Hills’ home at Maloney Avenue, Plantation Road, Valencia. The neighbour said Hills accused Granger of “having a next man and telling her to leave” his place.
Three hours later, the quarrelling continued and turned physical. The neighbour saw Granger with a big silver knife in her hand and heard noises from inside the house. After putting himself in a position to see all that was taking place, he saw Hills run out of the house holding his throat, with blood running from his neck, covering his clothes.
Hills, who was also known as Hoppie because he walked with a limp, as one of his legs was longer than the other, fell in the middle of the road. As he fell, Granger came out of the house with the bloodied knife in her hand.
The neighbour heard her tell Hills, "It f--king good for you, you mother c---, I tell you don’t come around me, I shoulda kill yo
