Ninjaman appeal: defence challenges life terms and sentencing delay

The appeal for entertainer Desmond Valentine, known as Ninjaman, his son Janiel Valentine and co-accused Dennis Clayton is continuing. All three were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 for murder and shooting with intent arising from a 2009 incident.

Counsel for the appellants focused on the mental elements of the offences, whether the eight-year gap between the crime and sentencing was properly weighed, and whether being near a firearm necessarily proves intent to use it.

King's Counsel told the court that Justice Gayle imposed life terms without reviewing every available sentencing option. Because the offences date to 2009 and sentence was passed in 2017, the defence argued that neither the trial nor the sentencing exercise accounted for that delay. That omission, they said, breached the appellants' rights and ought to have featured in the penalty decision.

Stewart Russell, of attorney Robert Fletcher's defence team, accepted that murder involving firearms often attracts life imprisonment, but submitted that the starting point should not automatically be the maximum. Life, he argued, is reserved for the most serious cases. He pointed to paragraph 76 of the ruling, which sets out factors that can justify a life term, and contended that this case fell outside those categories. Because the judge did not explain why life was chosen, the defence said the sentence was flawed.

Russell also argued that a sentencing judge must state the starting point, identify aggravating and mitigating factors, and address time already spent in custody. At trial, he said, the court did not show how Valentine's three and a half years on remand were factored in.

The defence maintains that life was disproportionate and that a fixed term, with eligibility for parole after 10 years, would have been more appropriate.