No murder convictions for 2005

It is unbelievable but true. The last conviction for murder was on November 29, 2004, when Neil Hernandez was sentenced to death by Justice Malcolm Holdip for murdering Christine Henry and her six-year-old son Phillip at Toco. Hernandez lost his appeal last week against conviction and sentence.

Since that conviction, the State has not been able to secure another one. Several persons walked free on murder charges, while others were able to wriggle out and take a manslaughter plea for jail time in preference to dangling on the end of a rope.

If the interpretation of the Charles Matthew judgment is correct, there are very few people who can face the hangman. The Privy Council, in the judgment delivered on July 7, 2004, stated that all persons on death row awaiting execution as of that date, should enjoy the same treatment as Matthew — a commutation of his death sentence.

Matthew has had his death sentence commuted, but no one else has had the same treatment yet.

To those who practice in the criminal courts, the last six months have been a terrible period for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The DPP’s office is now manned by very inexperienced staff. In one case, a lawyer with just two years at the Bar, is prosecuting in a murder trial. It was not too long ago that Chief Justice Sat Sharma hinted that persons with less than five years in practice should not be representing an accused person in a murder trial. That, of course, goes for the State. Unlike some ten to 15 years ago, the DPP operates a very inexperienced ship and this is reflected in the rate of convictions (not only murder cases) before the court.

Apart from DPP Geoffrey Henderson himself, there are very few senior prosecutors. They include Carla Brown-Antoine, Roger Gaspard, and Wayne Rajbansie. Because of the state of the department, the DPP has had to hire experienced counsel on contract to assist.

Marlon Sambucharan prosecutes in the criminal courts, while Bindra Dolsingh and Dana Seetahal represent the State in the Court of Appeal. Gaspard, an assistant DPP, is in charge of the San Fernando office.

Apart from these, the majority of state prosecutors have less than ten years’ experience. The lack of proper police investigations raised concerns, as very often, oral and written confessions are thrown out by the courts.

It all started on January 20 when Emmanuel King, charged for murder, was found guilty of the lesser count of manslaughter.

On February 18, David Nicholas pleaded guilty to killing his wife Magrette Angelique Haynes. He was sentenced to nine years in jail for manslaughter on March 8. Shondelle Riley was acquitted on March 11 of the murder of Jamal Jerome in east Port-of-Spain.

Following the 2002 murder of PC Kieran Parke in El Socorro, San Juan, teenager Keron Joseph was charged. Because he was under 18 at the time of the murder, he could not be sentenced to death. He was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison on March 16.

Steve Gorin and Jude Lucas were freed on April 12 of the murder of Omar Muhammad at Carenage.

Lester Pitman and Daniel Agard, convicted last year of the murders of John Cropper, Maggie Lee, and Lynette Pearson, appealed against the conviction. Pitman lost his appeal on April 15 and he filed an application indicating his intention to go to the Privy Council.

Agard’s appeal was allowed and a re-trial ordered. The Office of the DPP has indicated its intention to appeal to the Privy Council on the decision to order a re-trial for Agard.

On April 26, Justice Prakash Moosai ordered a re-trial for Joseph Murray Forde, who was charged with the murder of Annette Sawh.

Hakim Sargeant, who was charged with the murder of a baby, had his trial aborted by Justice Mark Mohammed on May 9. Krishna Persad had been freed since last year, but it was only on May 12 that the Privy Council, in a written judgment, explained the reasons for the acquittal.

Persad and Ramsingh Jairam were convicted for a 1986 murder in a cane field in Couva. Jairam is still in jail and up to last week, his name was linked with others whom the State wants to execute.

After a six-week trial, Jimmy Bournes and his sons Nigel and Akeido Mayers were freed by a jury on June 10. They were before Justice Moosai charged with the murder of Andre ‘X-Files’ Lindsay.

On that same day, Monica Rochard was freed by Justice Mark Mohammed for the murder of her infant son Jameel Rochard at Blue Basin, Diego Martin.

Rochard, who is the victim of abuse as the court heard, was charged with murder after she reportedly set a house on fire in which her son was asleep. It was also the last criminal case for attorney Nadia Ashraph who died last Tuesday after reportedly hanging herself at her apartment at Picton Street, Newtown.

It was really on Ashraph’s urging that the case against Rochard fell down and she walked free.

On June 13, four men walked free of murder. Rodney Rodriquez, Keston Romano, Joel Blake, and Cliff Murphy were discharged. They had been charged with the murder of Ashley Mathlin at St James.

On June 14, Jason Antoine was sentenced to seven years in jail by Justice Herbert Volney for the unlawful killing of Moses Bullock.

On June 21, Ricardo Lett was sentenced to four years in jail by Justice Mohammed for killing Douglas Alex-ander at Sea Lots. He was originally charged with murder, but pleaded guilty well into the trial.

With a new month starting on Friday, and with a number of murder cases listed, the legal profession awaits to see what will happen in the criminal courts.