Baby killer wants notes from Mercy Committee

CONVICTED baby killer Gayman Jurisingh wants the minutes of the meeting of the Mercy Committee which took the decision in December 1993 to commute his death sentence and those of 42 other killers.

Yesterday, Jurisingh’s attorney Mark Seepersad informed the court that he wrote to the Attorney General on Friday asking for the minutes of the meeting which was held on December 8, 1993 and where the Mercy Committee considered the fate of a number of convicted killers whose sentences were commuted to one of natural life in light of the Pratt and Morgan judgment. Jurisingh, 40, filed a constitutional motion in which he is challenging, among other things, the commutation of his death sentence to one of natural life. The motion was called yesterday before Justice Ivor Archie in the Port-of-Spain Second Civil Court. The matter was adjourned to April 1 giving both the applicant and the Attorney General time to file their affidavits. Jurisingh was sentenced to death by Justice Mustapha Ibrahim in the San Fernando Assizes on June 15, 1982, for the murder of two-year-old Phillip Jones, the son of the manager of Dunlop (Trinidad) Limited which oc-curred at Point Fortin on July 11, 1980.

Seepersad, who appeared with Gerald Ramdeen, said after the Mercy Committee met on December 8, 1993, the minutes of the meeting were sent to the Secretary to then President Noor Hassanali. At that time, the chairman of the Mercy Committee was Russell Huggins, Minister of National Security with the then Attorney General Keith Sobion and then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Aldric Benjamin and four other persons as members. In his letter, Seepersad said Jurisingh was not granted the opportunity to make any representation to the Mercy Committee, neither was he informed that his sentence was to be commuted. He said Jurisingh was also denied the opportunity to have sight of the documents that the Mercy Committee considered in coming to the decision to commute the sentence of death to one of imprisonment for the rest of his natural life.

Justice Archie said he hopes that all the relevant and necessary documents will be handed over. He said he expects the State will act appropriately. Jurisingh was arrested on July 11, 1980, after the baby’s body was found. The baby had been kidnapped and a ransom demanded. After he was convicted, Jurisingh appealed, but the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on December 20, 1984. He appealed to the Privy Council, but the Law Lords dismissed the matter on May 17, 1990.  However, on November 5, 1992, the death warrant was read to Jurisingh for his execution six days later. The death warrant was also read to Fazal Mohammed and Peter Matthews. The Port-of-Spain High Court granted a stay of execution on November 10, 1992. But two days later, another warrant was read to Jurisingh for his execution the following day. “I was horrified and shocked at this action by the authorities,” Jurisingh said in his affidavit. He was granted another stay of execution. After almost 12 years on Death Row, Jurisingh was granted a commutation on January 4, 1994 when he was awakened late at night by a prison officer and marched to the office of the Commissioner of Prisons Cipriani Baptiste.