Appeals Court gives Kirk Gordon 15 years for Manslaughter

Kirk Gordon

A fifteen year sentence is never good news, except of course, if you were facing life in prison. That was the case for Kirk Gordon, who was convicted of murder in 2006 and would have spent the rest of his days behind bars. But in the past seven years, the case went to the Magistrates, Supreme and Appeals Court then ended up at the Privy Council, where the murder conviction was downgraded to manslaughter. Gordon got the news today when he appeared for sentencing. The fifteen year sentence, which was handed down by the outgoing President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Elliott Mottley, is retroactive to July sixteenth, 2006, the date of the conviction. This means Gordon has eleven years remaining. Gordon’s attorney, Simeon Sampson requested a sentence of no more than ten years, stating that his client had no previous convictions for serious offences, but that didn’t sway the panel of judges. On November fourteenth, 2003 Arthur Ellis was attacked and badly beaten on the face and upper body with a piece of stick. Ellis also received a blow behind the head and died from a severe fracture to the skull. Gordon claims it was self defense and that Ellis was armed with a knife and came towards him in an aggressive manner.