High court decision against Ramie Gumbs overturned, retrial ordered

By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

~~Adz:Right~~ BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ANOTHER individual, who appealed conviction and sentenced imposed on him by the High Court of Justice, won his case, had both repealed and was granted the opportunity of a retrial.

Ramie Gumbs was taken before the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal yesterday after he had filed an appeal against conviction of “robbery” and a 12-year sentence, which was imposed after he was found guilty of the crime at the High Court level. The offence of which he was convicted took place on July 1, 2005.

Gumbs, who represented himself, told the court that his appeal is based on the (1) Mistaken identity, where he claimed that the individual who committed the crime was not him and (2) his name and or description was not forwarded to the authorities by the virtual complainant himself but was given to him by another party.

Gumbs argued that, according to the evidence in the case, the Independence Square, where the incident occurred, was not illuminated which would have made it impossible for the victim to see who his attacker was. He further argued that, according to the prosecution’s evidence, the only light that shone in the vicinity of the Square came from the National Bank located at West Independence Square Street.

The incident took place sometime in the late evening and the appellant maintained that the evidence also showed there was moonlight on that evening; however, the presence of trees in the Independence Square prevented the moon from providing any illumination in that area. He said that this further proves the virtual complainant could not have seen who his attacker was.

Another point raised by the appellant was that the victim in the case did not, off his own accord, give his (Gumbs) name to the police as his attacker, but was given his name and description by another party.

Responding to Gumbs’ argument, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paulina Hendrickson maintained that there was enough evidence to sustain the conviction and sentenced imposed by the High Court of Justice.

The Justices of Appeal explained that they had some difficulty and concern with the directions given by the trial judge to the jury, in that while giving his summation of the evidence and while directing the jury on the law, invited it to infer that there may have been lights emanating from other buildings around the area where the attack took place.

The Justices of Appeal indicated that the quality of the judge’s direction to the jury caused them to allow the appeal and have the High Court of Justice’s conviction and sentence rescinded.  They ordered a retrial but explained that the DPP would determine whether or not it would take place.

Although Gumbs was relieved of the conviction and sentence imposed by the High Court of Justice, he left the courtroom in custody as he has to apply for bail at the High Court of Justice, at which point it would be decided if he would be released or held pending retrial.