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Bev Lopez' kidnapper convicted again
Saturday, January 12, 2008
STEVE McCalla, the man who made the headlines several years ago for kidnapping former Jamaica Exporters Association president, Beverley Lopez, was on Thursday sentenced to 20 years behind bars for robbing two female Life of Jamaica (LOJ) insurance agents in 2006.
McCalla, who defended himself during his trial last December, was sentenced to 10 years each on two counts of aggravated robbery. He will, however, spend 10 years behind bars as the sentences are to run concurrently.
The Waterhouse Kingston resident indicated immediately that he would be filing an appeal, and made a failed bail application.
Two women - 18-year-old Tashana Broomfield and Crystal Lewis - who were slapped with conspiracy charges in the incident, were set free before the start of the trial in a deal that saw them giving evidence against McCalla. Charges were laid against the three following their arrests on March 23, 2006.
The women were said to have lured the agents to an apartment on Seymour Avenue in Kingston some time in March 2006, under the pretence of wanting to purchase insurance policies, before McCalla savagely attacked and robbed them. The agents, who showed up at the rented apartment at different times of the day, were blindfolded, bound and gagged. They were left in a room for several hours before freeing themselves. The agents were robbed of cellular phones, an ATM card, a Honda CRV and a Suzuki motor car.
The three were arrested on March 23 at Sullivan Avenue after McCalla allegedly attempted to pull a similar stunt on two real estate agents.
McCalla was in 2001 convicted to nine years' imprisonment in the Lopez matter, but won a three-year reduction at the Court of Appeal. He was released in December 2005.
On Thursday McCalla was given a lengthy lecture on God and the need for salvation by Justice Almarie Sinclair-Haynes, who also gave him a Bible to "study" while in prison.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
STEVE McCalla, the man who made the headlines several years ago for kidnapping former Jamaica Exporters Association president, Beverley Lopez, was on Thursday sentenced to 20 years behind bars for robbing two female Life of Jamaica (LOJ) insurance agents in 2006.
McCalla, who defended himself during his trial last December, was sentenced to 10 years each on two counts of aggravated robbery. He will, however, spend 10 years behind bars as the sentences are to run concurrently.
The Waterhouse Kingston resident indicated immediately that he would be filing an appeal, and made a failed bail application.
Two women - 18-year-old Tashana Broomfield and Crystal Lewis - who were slapped with conspiracy charges in the incident, were set free before the start of the trial in a deal that saw them giving evidence against McCalla. Charges were laid against the three following their arrests on March 23, 2006.
The women were said to have lured the agents to an apartment on Seymour Avenue in Kingston some time in March 2006, under the pretence of wanting to purchase insurance policies, before McCalla savagely attacked and robbed them. The agents, who showed up at the rented apartment at different times of the day, were blindfolded, bound and gagged. They were left in a room for several hours before freeing themselves. The agents were robbed of cellular phones, an ATM card, a Honda CRV and a Suzuki motor car.
The three were arrested on March 23 at Sullivan Avenue after McCalla allegedly attempted to pull a similar stunt on two real estate agents.
McCalla was in 2001 convicted to nine years' imprisonment in the Lopez matter, but won a three-year reduction at the Court of Appeal. He was released in December 2005.
On Thursday McCalla was given a lengthy lecture on God and the need for salvation by Justice Almarie Sinclair-Haynes, who also gave him a Bible to "study" while in prison.
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