By Latrishka Thomas
Two cousins have been ordered to compensate a teacher for conspiring to harm him three years ago.
On May 13, 2020, Lindon Lawrence and Tesheed Gordon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.
This week, Justice Ann-Marie Smith sentenced Lawrence to pay the complainant $2,500 by the end of August or spend six months in jail.
Gordon, on the other hand, was sentenced to pay the complainant $2,000 by the end of the same month, or spend the same six months in jail in default.
The offence in question occurred in 2017 when Lawrence, who was 35 at the time, solicited the help of his then 20-year-old cousin, Gordon, to shoot a teacher at the Jennings Secondary School (JSS) who had a close relationship with his ex-girlfriend who was a student at JSS.
In February 2017, the 18-year-old girl had ended her relationship with Lawrence because she suspected that he was unfaithful, but Lawrence constantly went to her house and tried to persuade her to rekindle the relationship.
She later decided to give him a second chance contingent on his faithfulness, so a result she downloaded an app which enabled her to sync his phone to hers so that she could monitor his messages.
Through that app she learned that he was seeing another young woman and she ended the relationship for the second time.
Then in March 2017, Lawrence contacted the teacher and expressed how much he loved the young girl and wanted to be with her and, knowing they were close, asked him to intercede on his behalf.
The defendant continued harassing the complainant with calls and messages until the complainant ignored him altogether.
Lawrence then contacted the complainant’s girlfriend on Facebook, and inquired if the teacher had an intimate relationship with his ex-girlfriend.
A month later, the young girl noticed messages between Lawrence and his cousin relating to “dealing with the man” and referencing the teacher’s address.
She screenshot the messages and sent them to the complainant who made a report to the police. The officers subsequently investigated the matter and took the two men into custody along with their phones and the on belonging to the young lady.
The phones were examined and the messages relating to the plot to cause the complainant harm by shooting him were discovered.
The messages also relayed Lawrence’s haste to cause harm the teacher.
Gordon reassured him that he would take care of it but asked Lawrence to be patient as the job needed to be done meticulously to prevent them from going to jail.
When questioned, Gordon admitted that he was asked to hurt the complainant, but Lawrence denied that he had made the request.
Gordon said he only played along to appease Lawrence and to prevent him from going through with the act himself.
But later, Lawrence admitted to soliciting help from Gordon because he was heartbroken, and he claimed to have caught the teacher sending explicit photos two years prior.
The men, who are first time offenders, were each also sentenced to one year’s probation and if they violate said probation, they will spend an additional six months in jail.