Sentencing of Buncum et al postponed for a few hours

By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

~~Adz:Left~~BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE sentencing hearing of Sheldon ‘Hatcher’ Isaac, Romeo ‘Buncum’ Cannonier, Ruedeney ‘Denny’ Williams and Louis ‘Tooloo’ Gardner began this morning but came to a halt when defence counsels requested time to prepare responses to an application filed by the prosecution.

The four men were taken before the court this morning with the expectation that they would be sentenced, as they were found guilty of committing the March 21, 2005 murder of Gavin ‘Maguilla’ Gilbert.

The verdict was read on June 12, 2008 and the presiding judge, Justice Albert Redhead, ordered psychiatric evaluations and social reports for all of the men.

After they were convicted, Director of Public Prosecution Paulina Hendrickson requested the death penalty.

Defence counsels Reginald W. James, Jason Hamilton and Hesketh Benjamin informed the court that they were given papers to this end, but were not given enough time to prepare a response to the application.

Justice Albert Redhead, who returned to the Federation for the sentencing hearing, gave a couple of hours for the defence counsels to prepare themselves to respond to the application.

Court resumes at 2:00 this afternoon when pleas in mitigations will be heard after which the convicted men are expected to be sentenced.