Romeo Cannonier’s appeal dismissed…but granted stay of execution
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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Romeo Cannonier
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ROMEO ‘BUNCUM’ CANNONIER’S appeal against his conviction of the murder of Police Constable Delvin Nisbett and the death sentenced he was handed has been rejected by the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.
Cannonier was convicted of Nisbett’s July 25, 2004 murder on October 23, 2007 by a five man/seven woman jury charged with the responsibility of trying his case.
Nisbett was gunned down in cold blood on that night while traversing a stretch of road between Parsons Village and Dieppe Bay en route to his girl friend’s home. According to evidence presented during the case, Cannonier confessed to his then-girlfriend, Makenia Lucas, that he had committed the crime.
Other evidence showed that after he was arrested for the offence and remanded, Cannonier sent instructions to the “outside” concerning the whereabouts of the gun used in the murder and also instructions on what should be done with it when retrieved.
Cannonier appeared before the Justices of Appeal late last week requesting that the decision and sentence imposed by the High Court of Justice be overturned.
The Justices of Appeal however ruled that his conviction of Nisbett’s murder and the death sentence be sustained.
However, they imposed a “stay of execution”, which is an order of the court for temporary suspension of a court’s judgement. The stay of execution expires on December 1, 2008. ~~Adz:Right~~
Meanwhile, Vincent ‘Shungy’ Taylor, who was convicted of the attempted murder and wounding with intent of Senior Prison Officer Zack Ray Browne and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life at the High Court of Justice, had his appeal heard at the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and had part of it allowed.
After his conviction of the November 5, 2005 offences, Taylor was sentenced to 10 years each on the first and second counts and 20 years on the latter count.
His appeal before the Court of Appeal was against conviction and sentence on all counts. Relative to the conviction of the first and third counts, the appeal was dismissed. However, relative to conviction of the second count, Taylor’s appeal was allowed because, as the Justices explained, he should not have been convicted of both attempted murder and wounding with intent because conviction of former subsumes latter.
Appeals regarding sentence for the attempted murder was dismissed, but the appeal against the conviction of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life was allowed and his sentence was decreased from 20 to 14 years.
All sentences are to run concurrently.
