Judge: Young men need conflict management

A High Court judge has advocated the need for conflict management for young men.

Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds made the call after sentencing an Arouca man for the unlawful killing of a teenager in 2009.

Jason Pamponette, the father of five, was released from prison after the judge said the 13 years he has spent on remand had exceeded the 12-year sentence she imposed on Tuesday.

He was initially charged with the murder of Teyon Francis, 17, on December 28, 2009, in Arouca. He surrendered to police on July 7, 2010.

From December 2022, Pamponette indicated his willingness to plead guilty to manslaughter and entered into plea discussions with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Francis had allegedly refused to give Pamponette a cigarette and was stabbed once in the chest for his “disrespect.”

In her sentencing, Ramsumair-Hinds described the incident as another example of the “signs of toxic masculinity in TT’s young men, gone terribly wrong.”

She described the incident as “very tragic and brutal” and said the court had to signal its displeasure, while sending a message of the need for conflict management for young men.

Ramsumair-Hinds said the killing, the result of a spontaneous burst of rage, led to a loss for both men.

“There is no way to recover and redeem.”

But she advised Pamponette to learn to keep his cool and walk away in situations of conflict.

“I believe you’ve had to learn that lesson while in prison. Use the hard lessons you have had to learn to your benefit.

“Thirteen years is a very long time to be on remand. Tap into the resources that give you good advice....

“You’ve given us your pound of flesh.”

The judge also spoke of the need for the main stakeholders in the criminal justice system to ensure an accused person “pays the just penalty” for their crime by sifting out cases that can be resolved sooner.

“If we are in the business of convicting the guilty and acquitting the innocent…and applying the principles of sentencing to a man with the appropriate and just penalty for his offence, then we have to pull them out.”

In a victim impact statement, Francis’s mother, Shelly Burrows, said the death of the youngest of her five children took a toll on her health.

She said it was the most grief she has suffered as a mother to lose her child at such a young age and not be able to see him grow old.

In a plea for mitigation, Pamponette’s attorney, public defender Chimere Gibson-Wadi, said Pamponette maintained he never intended to murder or inflict life-threatening injuries on Francis, but accepted his actions were “inexcusable.”

Gibson-Wadi said Pamponette also said his decision to accept responsibility for his actions was to spare Francis’s family and witnesses a long and tedious trial.

He also acknowledged the way his actions affected not only his children’s lives, but the lives of Francis’s family, including the latter’s young child.

Also representing him was public defender Kameika Peters. Indira Chinebas represented the State.