BASSTERRE, St. Kitts - THREE criminal appeals that were heard at last week’s (Feb. 10-14) sitting of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of Appeal were dismissed, while five were adjourned to the next local sitting.
The cases were those of Craig Bradshaw and Allister Forde who appealed their sentences, and James Ham, Jermaul Jules, Keithley Griffin, Jamie Wilkinson, Joseph Herbert and Neil Harvey who appealed their convictions.
Bradshaw, Griffin and Herbert had their sexual appeals adjourned to the next local sitting of the Appeal Court in June, 2014.
Bradshaw was appealing the 20-year prison sentence handed to him after being found guilty of unlawful carnal knowledge perpetrated against a girl of 13-years.
Griffin was appealing an unlawful carnal knowledge conviction while Herbert was appealing a buggery conviction.
James Ham, who appealed his 15-year rape sentence, had his matter dismissed as the Justices of Appeal found no reason to disturb the sentence.
Ham was convicted and sentenced for forcing himself into a woman's home and raping her at knife point while her 7-year-old son was in the house.
Forde was appealing a 15-year sentence for shooting with intent. He requested an adjournment of the matter so that he could seek legal representation as he was unable to argue the appeal himself.
Harvey and Wilkinson had their separate wounding with intent appeals dismissed. Both men were convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.
Meanwhile, Che Gregory Spencer alias ‘Duck Foot’, who was convicted and sentenced to serve 18 years in prison for murder, was set free by the Appeal Court.
He was convicted for shooting 27-year-old Jason ‘Worlo’ Marsham, which resulted in his death on December 6, 2006.
He appealed his conviction at the March, 2013 sitting of the Appeal Court and the judgment was adjourned. On Monday (Feb. 10) however, Spencer learned that his conviction was set aside and a retrial was ordered - at the liberty of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
A looked-forward-to matter was that of Attorney Denzil Hinds, who is appealing a contempt conviction. His case was originally scheduled to be heard at last week's Appeal Court sitting but was removed from the docket.
Hinds was convicted for contempt of court on November 23, 2012, following the alleged utterance of a certain phrase after the case in which he was the defence attorney was declared a mistrial.
The lawyer was sentenced to spend 10 days at Her Majesty's Prison but was placed on bail a few days later pending his appeal.
Hinds had told SKNVibes that it was not likely that the case would have been heard during last week's sitting as he had not yet received a transcript he had been requesting for quite some time, adding that it was imperative that he has the complete transcript in order to proceed with the matter.
All adjourned appeals - as well as Hinds' - are expected to be heard at the next sitting of the Court of Appeal in June, 2014.
