From Death Row to freedom street

TWO IMJIN security guards, who spent more than five years on Death Row for killing a colleague, were freed yesterday after a judge stayed their indictment on the ground of undue delay.

Robert Mohammed and Johnny Richard-son emerged from the Hall of Justice shortly after 11  am yesterday, after nine years and three months in custody. They had been charged with the murder of fellow Imjin security guard Keith Vidale at Imjin’s New Street, Port-of-Spain offices during the period June 21 and 22, 1994. Yesterday, Justice Melville Baird, sitting in the Port-of-Spain First Criminal Court, upheld motions filed by the defence and stayed the indictment. He also ordered that both Mohammed and Richardson were free to leave the court. Richardson emerged from the Hall of Justice dressed in Muslim wear and said “Allah U Ackbar” when questioned by reporters. Mohammed, on the other hand, told reporters that there were a lot of innocent persons in jail and that they (reporters) should check that out. Desmond Allum SC, Gregory Delzin and Rajiv Persad appeared for Mohammed, while Osbourne Charles SC and Debra James represented Richardson. The State was represented by Althea Alexis and Alexander Prince. The prosecution contended that during the early hours of June 22, 1994, Vidale was on duty as an armed security guard at Imjin Security Services when he was stabbed to death and a number of firearms belonging to the company were taken. 

Mohammed and Richarsdon, both Imjin employees, were arrested by police shortly after the killing and subsequently charged with murder. They were found guilty and sentenced to death on March 20, 1996. They appealed and the Court of Appeal rejected their appeal on March 20, 1997. They appealed to the Privy Council, who on April 10, 2001, allowed the appeal and remitted the matter to the Court of Appeal to determine whether a re-trial should be ordered. On September 20, 2001, the Court of Appeal ordered that Mohammed and Rich-ardson be re-tried for murder. The matter was called several times before it was listed for September 17. Two days before that, both accused filed motions claiming delay on the part of the authorities to bring them to trial. Baird, in his 55-page judgment, said he was satisfied that the accused were not the authors of any pre-trial delay in this matter and that they had been in custody for the entire period of nine years and three months.

The court also found that there was a four-year delay in transmitting the record of the proceedings to the Registrar of the Privy Council. According to the judge, the four-year delay was not explained by the State. The State could not say when the record was actually transmitted to the Privy Council. Baird added, “there was no attempt by the State to treat the case with the urgency it manifestly deserved, it being a re-trial ordered by the Court of Appeal to whom the case had been remitted by the Privy Council for the Court of Appeal to determine whether a re-trial should have been ordered.” He continued, “the State did not say, and indeed could not have said, that this case was a complex one because it was not; and there was not a great number of witnesses.” Having considered all the circumstances of the case, Justice Baird found that no satisfactory explanation or justification had been given by the State for the delay of some five years and three months in total. He said he had to balance the general interest of the community and the requirement of the protection of the fundamental rights of the applicants.

In the final analysis, the judge held that in the circumstances of the case, the period of unexplained delay of five years and three months was sufficiently long to breach the reasonable time req-uirement. Before concluding his judgment, Baird noted that Mohammed and Richardson re-mained on Death Row for five extra months after their convictions were quashed. The State, he added, was unable to advance any explanation for their conduct in respect of both accused. “The court received this evidence with eyes of dismay,” he added.