Appeal Court upholds Kemar Thompson's 66-year minimum prison term for St. Catherine murders

Convicted killer Kemar Thompson will remain imprisoned for a minimum of 66 years and seven months before he can be considered for parole, after Jamaica's Court of Appeal rejected his challenge to life sentences imposed for eight murders in St. Catherine.

Thompson, who was 23 when the killings took place, admitted to murdering eight men during three violent episodes between August and October 2014. The court found that, despite errors in the original sentencing process, the overall punishment was not excessive given the number of victims, the use of firearms, the public nature of the attacks and the seriousness of the crimes.

The first murder occurred on August 4, 2014, when Constable Leslie Blake was shot dead in Bog Walk, St. Catherine. Evidence before the court included a witness account that Thompson was heard saying "No or never" shortly before opening fire in daylight.

Just over two months later, Thompson and armed accomplices ambushed a vehicle on Highway 2000 that was carrying about $1.5 million for China Harbour Engineering Company workers. Three men were killed in that robbery, along with a truck driver who came upon the scene.

Ten days after that attack, three more men were fatally shot on Pineapple Lane in Bog Walk. Thompson later described those killings as reprisals.

He received eight life sentences on July 30, 2018, after pleading guilty to murder, robbery and firearm offences. The appeal was heard by Justices Marcia Dunbar-Green, Nicole Foster-Pusey and Georgiana Fraser, who said the sentencing judge had made mistakes in applying the structured sentencing approach, calculating custody credit and treating guilty plea discounts.

However, the court ruled that consecutive sentences were justified because the murders happened on separate occasions and reflected worsening criminal conduct. Thompson's attorney, Oswald Senior-Smith, argued that the sentence failed to properly account for his youth, lack of prior convictions, guilty pleas, cooperation and prospects for rehabilitation. Crown Counsel Kimberly Dell-Williams, appearing with Natasha Powell, maintained that the penalty remained appropriate because of the scale and brutality of the offences.