Goodger Sentenced for Manslaughter

Devaughan Goodger

At the age of seventeen, Devaughan Goodger was charged for the stabbing murder of Jason Pott which occurred on Cleghorn Street, Belize City on March fifth, 2011.  After being on remand for five years, Goodger took a guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter at the start of his trial last week.  At his sentencing this morning, Justice Adolph Lucas told him that he must take a number of factors into consideration aside from the fact that he was a minor at the time of the murder.  Judge Lucas revisited the manner in which Pott met his untimely death. Prior to the murder, Goodger had threatened Pott, telling him not to return to his house.  He had dropped off his four-old son at the home of the sister of the main witness, who lived in the same yard where Goodger also lived. On the day of the murder, Goodger’s mother intervened when the two got into a struggle for a knife. Pott was stabbed once to the chest and died. But at sentencing, the Judge also took into consideration that Goodger showed remorse and had apologized to Pott’s family for the pain he had caused.  This Tuesday, a mitigation plea was heard where sixty-seven year old Efrain Aguilar, a retired Public Officer from Caye Caulker who had once hired him, described Goodger as  trustworthy and a hard working individual who he had trusted to collect money from his clients. Aguilar begged the court for leniency on behalf of Goodger.  Since he has been on remand since 2011, Goodger will now spend six years and months behind bars.