Dinzey Ryan’s appeal application quashed

By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A sentence imposed by the High Court of Justice has been left untouched after the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal heard an application made by Dinzey Ryan yesterday (Oct. 28) and ruled against it.

Ryan was in September 2001 convicted of manslaughter and shooting with intent after he pleaded guilty to the charges. He was accused of shooting his girlfriend and wounding one of her relatives. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on the manslaughter charge and to serve 10 years on the shooting with intent charge.

Ryan appeared before the Court of Appeal yesterday, seven years after he was convicted, and explained that he was representing himself and had a number of concerns regarding his sentence.

 ~~Adz:Right~~In begging the court for consideration of his plight, Ryan said he sees no such things in life as mistakes but rather lessons that are to be learnt from. He further explained that since his incarceration, he has taken part in a number of classes and courses offered at the prison including Anger Management and Counselling, which have aided with his new outlook on life, and is now giving serious consideration to getting in touch with God.

Ryan told the Court that he is the father of 11 children, three girls and eight boys, and would very much like to have an opportunity to take responsibility of and lend a hand in their upbringing, especially now that his mother, who played a pivotal role in their lives, is deceased.

With the length of time elapsing from the time of sentence to the time of appeal giving rise to concerns raised by the Justices, Ryan explained that two days after being sentenced, he filled out the necessary document given to him at Her Majesty’s Prison and gave it to an individual whom he named as “Mr. Taylor”. He said this individual was a senior officer at the prison.

Ryan said he believes that officer is now deceased but explained that he waited for a response to the application and, having not heard of or received any, he again filled out the necessary form(s) to appeal.

His Lordship President Rawlins told Ryan that his present appeal is the only appeal which came before that court concerning that matter.

His Lordship ruled that the appeal be dismissed “as the only resource”, as the application which actually appeared before the Court of Appeal was late in coming and also because there is no record of the application filed or which was to have been filed in 2001.