Pitman’s life in judge’s hands

The application for the stay will be heard this morning by Justice Gregory Smith in the Port-of-Spain High Court.

The motion was filed in the Registry of the Port-of-Spain High Court on Pitman’s behalf. A death warrant was read to Pitman at the Port-of-Spain State Prison on Wednesday afternoon. He is scheduled to be hanged at 6 am on Monday.

Pitman and Daniel Agard were sentenced to death by Justice Herbert Volney on July 14, 2004, for the murders of Maggie Lee, Lynette Pearson, and John Cropper on December 11, 2001, at Second Avenue, Cascade.

They appealed and the court dismissed Pitman’s appeal on April 15 this year, and ordered a retrial for Agard.

On April 22, Pitman’s lawyer Wayne Sturge filed a notice in the Court of Appeal stating that his client "intends to apply to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for special leave to appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated 15th April 2005."

Despite the notice in the Court of Appeal, the Advisory Committee on the Power of Pardon, headed by the Minister of National Security, considered Pitman’s case and found no reason that mercy could be exercised on him.

The minister advised President George Maxwell Richards that in accordance with Section 89 (2) of the Constitution that the sentence of death should be carried out, and that Pitman be executed.

The death warrant, having been signed by the President, was returned to the Ministry of National Security which then forwarded it to the Commissioner of Prisons John Rougier.

The warrant was then read to Pitman at the city jail on Wednesday afternoon. Pitman has already been weighed and his clothing changed to white. He has been moved to a cell in close proximity to the gallows.

The trap door of the gallows has been tested and, according to reports, is working properly.

The hangman has been contacted and is ready to perform the hanging, prison sources added. When asked what he wanted for his last meal on Sunday, Pitman replied, "KFC."

There is a sombre mood on Death Row. No one knows for sure who would be next. The majority of persons on Death Row have been there prior to the July 7, 2004, Privy Council judgment in Charles Matthew v the State.

Since the Privy Council judgment, only Matthew has had his death sentence commuted to life. He was removed from Death Row seven months later. The other convicted killers remain in the condemned section despite the Law Lords’ ruling.

In July 1994, convicted killer Glen Ashby was hanged while an appeal on his constitutional motion was before the Privy Council.

Ashby, who had been on death row for just under five years, had lost all his criminal appeals, and filed a motion after the death warrant was read to him. He lost in the High Court and Court of Appeal, and while an appeal was on its way to London, he was executed. He was sentenced to death for the murder of BWIA pilot Khemraj Singh.

The last legal hanging in Trinidad was in July 1999 when Tony Briggs was hanged for the murder of a taxi driver in the Heights of Guanapo.