A man who abducted and killed a 10-year-old child was yesterday resentenced to 50 years in prison.
Clayton Cox, 49, was convicted of the murder of Scottie Andrews in 1998 and sentenced to death, the mandatory penalty at the time.
The sentence takes effect from the date of conviction.
Cox was resentenced to life imprisonment in March 2010 to comply with a Privy Council decision that said the mandatory death penalty was unconstitutional.
Cox, through his lawyer Roberto Reckley, appealed the sentence on the basis that the life sentence was unduly harsh and severe due to its uncertainty.
According to the evidence, Cox grabbed Andrews by the neck as he was taking a short cut off Baillou Hill Road on the evening of October 3, 1994.
Cox allegedly ordered Andrews' friend to get him a rug from his house and then sent him home. When the friend left, Cox still had Andrews by the neck.
The boy also said he saw Cox retrieve a piece of plywood from his home.
Four days later, Andrews' body was discovered between the back of a Seventh Day Adventist Church and its boundary wall.
The body was covered with a rug and plywood and the victim's pants had been pulled down.
The Court of Appeal noted that Cox had six previous convictions before committing the murder at 33.
He also showed no remorse, maintaining his innocence despite evidence to the contrary.
The court ruled, "As noted, the victim was a mere 10 years old. He was bludgeoned to death by a man nearly 20 years his senior for no known reason and abandoned in a church yard.
"In the absence of any matters of partial excuse, the circumstances of this offense must no doubt be weighed heavily against the appellant and puts the case at the high end of the scale as enunciated by Larry Raymond Jones."
The Jones case set a sentencing range of 30 to 60 years for murder.

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