Court to decide killer’s fate

It will also have to decide whether the five of eight years he spent on Death Row amounted to cruel and unusual treatment.

Another option will be to send the matter to the Mercy Committee. His attorneys, Gregory Delzin and Brent Ali, asked Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma, and Justices of Appeal Stanley John and Paula Mae Weekes to free John.

However, special State prosecutor Dana Seetahal argued that, in the circumstances, John should not be the beneficiary of such a ruling. She submitted that the overriding factor is that the public interest must be served and that is to bring the guilty people to justice.

John and Mark Teeluck were convicted in July 2000, and sentenced to death for the murder of Narvin Nandlal on July 14, 1997. However, the Privy Council found that John did not get the benefit of a "good character" direction by the trial judge, and his matter was sent back to the Court of Appeal to determine if he should be retried, set free or have his sentence commuted.

In the case of Teeluck, such a direction was not necessary since he had a criminal record.

Delzin also complained to the court that although John’s appeal was allowed by the Privy Council earlier this year, he was still kept on Death Row, a situation with which the CJ expressed concern. The court has reserved its judgment to a date to be announced.