Jamaica’s Court of Appeal has affirmed the 40-year prison sentence for Patrick Green, who committed a series of brutal sexual assaults against seven females—including an eight-year-old child—across multiple communities in St. James between 2012 and 2014. The appellate court described Green’s crimes as ‘horrific and undeniably egregious’ while officially designating him as a serial rapist.
The three-judge panel, comprising President Marva McDonald-Bishop and Justices Nicole Simmons and Vivene Harris, delivered their ruling on March 13 after hearing arguments this month. While upholding the substantial prison term originally imposed by Justice Martin Gayle in 2015, the appellate court identified a legal technicality requiring correction: the original sentencing had failed to establish specific parole eligibility requirements as mandated by Section 6(2) of Jamaica’s Sexual Offences Act.
Green had appealed his conviction, arguing through attorney George Clue that his trial was unfair and that the sentences were ‘harsh and manifestly excessive.’ He specifically claimed that Justice Gayle failed to ‘temper justice with mercy’ despite his guilty plea to 23 counts including rape, forcible abduction, grievous sexual assault, illegal firearm possession, and buggery.
The Appeal Court thoroughly rejected these arguments, noting that the severity of Green’s crimes justified the lengthy sentences. The judges emphasized that the nature of the offenses—which involved weapons, multiple victims including children, and extreme violence—outweighed any consideration for a sentencing discount due to his guilty plea.
Detailing the horrific incidents, the court documented how Green and accomplices terrorized victims in their homes and public spaces. In one September 2012 incident in Irwin, masked assailants armed with guns assaulted five females—aged 8 to 28—simultaneously, forcing them from their home and sexually violating them in nearby bushes while stealing their valuables.
Green was ultimately apprehended in January 2014 during a goat theft investigation. DNA evidence subsequently linked him to multiple sexual assault cases, including a January 2014 taxi hijacking where he robbed and raped a passenger, and a December 2013 attack on a woman returning from church in Montego Bay.
The appellate court established specific parole eligibility requirements: For the 35-year sentences on counts 3, 7, and 8, Green must serve 30 years before parole consideration; for counts 5 and 6 (also 35-year terms), 30 years minimum; for counts 9 and 10 (15-year sentences), 11 years minimum; and for counts 11 and 12 (15-year sentences), 13 years minimum. All other sentences remained undisturbed.