Jolyan Silvera sentencing to be streamed live on March 6

The sentencing hearing for former Member of Parliament Jolyan Silvera, who pleaded guilty to killing his wife, will be open to public viewing despite taking place in the usually restricted Gun Court.

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes announced on Thursday that the March 6 hearing will be streamed live on the judiciary's social media platforms.

The Gun Court is not typically open to the public, but the Chief Justice said the decision was made because the matter has reached the sentencing stage.

"We are now at the point where it's just the sentencing that is left and that process is easier to manage at this point," Sykes told journalists during a forum titled A Conversation with the Judiciary in St Andrew.

Silvera, the former St Mary Western MP for the People's National Party, pleaded guilty on February 6 to manslaughter and using a firearm to commit an offence in the November 10, 2023 shooting death of his wife, Melissa Silvera, at their Stony Hill home in St Andrew.

He was originally charged with murder.

Melissa Silvera's death was first reported as being due to natural causes. However, an autopsy conducted three weeks later revealed she had suffered gunshot wounds. Three bullet fragments were removed from her body.

The high-profile case has reignited debate around the Gun Court Act, which was introduced in the mid-1970s to address the growing use of firearms in criminal activity. The legislation was designed in part to protect witnesses by limiting public access to proceedings.

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