Mr. Gordon was the brother of former Premier Dame Pamela Gordon and son of National Hero and labour stalwart Dr. E.F. Gordon. The 70-year-old died following an altercation with 48-year-old Clinton Smith.
Clinton Smith, 48-year-old had pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the 1st of November this year.
The prosecution accepted that Smith had no intent to murder Mr. Gordon nor to do grievous bodily harm.
In his judgment today, Justice Alan Richards, Smith had “pummeled” Mr. Gordon during an altercation, administering blows about his body and head.
Mr. Gordon, he said, had stayed down for four minutes. He was unable to walk and was in pain when he tried to leave the scene, on the 10th of June 2022.
The 70-year-old was found dead at his Victoria Street residence the following day.
The court heard that the blows contributed to his death, though no one can say precisely what happened.
Justice Richards said he has no idea how the altercation began but noted that no weapon was used – though he believed if Smith had stood trial, it was likely he would have been acquitted.
Nevertheless, he said, Smith, who was 46 years old at the time, should have been aware that being in an altercation with an older man posed a serious risk to Mr. Gordon’s health.
Kings Counsel Jerome Lynch, representing Smith, noted that the matter was an issue of “self-defense”. His client has never been charged with a violent offense though he did cause the death of a 21-year-old woman by careless driving – an incident described as “unfortunate.”
KC Lynch also highlighted Smith’s willingness to enter an early guilty plea to the charge of manslaughter, a few weeks before a trial was due to begin this month.
Expressing the pain of missing her father’s laughter and wisdom, Mr. Gordon’s daughter Karen Sewell said, “the horror of learning two weeks after that he had been violently beaten has left me in a state of shock and grief that is difficult to put into words.”
“The loss of my father in such a brutal manner is overwhelming. I find myself constantly grappling with feelings of anger, confusion and sorrow.”
She added, “His untimely death has robbed him of the chance to meet his first great-grandchild, an opportunity that was taken from him far too soon.”
It was noted that Smith had served a prison sentence for causing the death of a bike rider by careless driving in Southampton when he fell asleep at the wheel while driving a delivery truck in 2017.
Justice Richards said this fact was, “all the more reason not to offer Gordon more violence.”
Based on his guilty plea to the lesser offense of manslaughter, the court ruled he is entitled to a full discount of one-third off his sentence.
Smith has been in custody since the 27th of June 2022.
He was jailed for 6 years and 8 months with time served taken into consideration.
