Bridgetown.
Magistrate Barbara Cooke-Alleyne has disagreed with the decision of Director of Public Prosecutions(DPP) Charles Leacock to file a lesser charge against businessman Johan Bjerkhamn in the death of his young son.
Cooke-Alleyne spoke just before sentencing Bjerkhamn to 240 hours of community service in the Holetown Magistrates Court 
yesterday.
She pointed out that under the law which Bjerkhamn was charged would have allowed her to sentence him to three months or a fine of $24.
Cooke-Alleyne disagreed with the DPP that the matter in which the 11 year old boy died from a gunshot wound, was not a serious one to merit imprisonment.
"The loss of a child's life in the manner herein accepted by all parties is serious enough to merit a custodial sentence, even if other relevant considerations lead the court to exercise its discretion not to order such", Cooke-Alleyne said in her three page judgement.
"The DPP in bringing a charge under the section seriously limits the custodial options available to the court. The fact that it is sentence of three months in a incident including the lost of life is as derisory as $24 fine previously mention", she added.
Bjerkhamn 40, of Leslie Gardens, Maynards, St Peter, was previously charged with unlawfully killing is son Luke, who died from a gunshot wound to the chest on April 11, 2010.
The child was shot while Bjerhamn a gun dealer was cleaning a gun, the charge was withdrawn by the DPP who indicated that there was no evidence pointing to reckless endangering of life or gross negligence that could substantiate it.
He replaced it with the lesser charge, that Bjerhamn wilfully exposed a child in his custody in a manner likely to cause injury to his health, to which Bjerhamn pleaded gulity.
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