Martin v The Queen

• Jurisdiction: Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Judge: Robotham C.J.
• Judgment Date: 11 October 1985
• Neutral Citation: KN 1985 CA 6
• Docket Number: Criminal Appeal No. 3 of 1985
• Court: Court of Appeal (Saint Kitts and Nevis)
• Date: 11 October 1985

Court of Appeal

Robotham, C.J., Bishop, J.A., Moe, J.A.

Criminal Appeal No. 3 of 1985

Martin

and

The Queen

Appearances

Lee Moore for the appellant

Nassibou Butler for the Crown along with K. Liburd and H. Rawlins

Evidence - Circumstantial evidence — Unsworn statement — Value

Facts: The appellant was convicted of murder. At trial he made unsworn statement which implicated an earlier witness. Appeal made on the grounds that judge misdirected the jury.

Held: (1) Judge merely pointed out that appellant's statement implicating earlier witness for the murder was made after the witness' testimony when the appellant had opportunity to question the witness. The allegationwas being made when the witness therefore could not defend himself. The judge was correct in pointing that out. (2) The crown presented a strong case based on circumstantial evidence against the appellant and it is not surprising that the appellant's incredulous account of how the deceased was injured was rejected. Appeal dismissed.

1 Robotham C.J. Delivered the judgement of court: On October 7 ^th, 1985 we dismissed the appeal herein and promised to put our seasons in writing and this I now do.

2 The appellant was in June 20, 19859 sentenced to death for the murder of Aubrey Liburd.

3 Briefly the facts are that the appellants Nolan Edwards and Leroy Carey were in occupation of a plot of land at Salt Pond, where they were engaged in the cultivation of ganga.

4 On the morning of December 18th, 1984, it was discovered that some of the growing ganga plants were missing. Someone was seen in the distance running away and the appellant and his two comrades gave chase. That person being used was the deceased. Carey gave up the chase when a cassia prickle got into his foot. He fell asleep where he stopped, whilst the other two continued the chase.

5 Nolan Edwards testified that he was being hampered by his trousers which were falling off so he took theta off and left them on the ground with his cutlass. The appellant took up the cutlass and later eventually caught up with the deceased at Friars Day. The deceased had a stick in his hand and the appellant still had the cutlass.

6 The appellant handed the cutlass to Edwards, and a struggle ensued between Edwards and the deoOased in the course of which Edwards received a cut on his foot. The appellant in the course of the fracas, boxed the deceased in his chest(, whilst holding a knife in his hand, and the deceased thereafter was seen with blood flowing from cuts on the chest. These wounds were superficial and after receiving theory he took off his shirt and, put down the bag he was carrying. He shortly after got up and walked off towards Frigate Bay. The appellant followed a short while after going in the same direction as the deceased. When appellant left behind the deceased the appellant still had the cutlass which Edwards and deceased had struggled for.

7 Nolan Edwards remained on the scene and bound his bleeding foot with deceased shirt. He was found by Carey and they drank water coconuts. On the way up to the top of Timothy Hill, Edwards noticed what appeared to be blood in the road. He kept on walking and when he got to a spot some 400 – 500 yards from the scene of the snuffle for the machete, he saw the appellant sitting down in the road. He said to him “where is Aubrey” and the appellant replied, that Aubrey was trying to take away the cutlass from him and he hit him with a stone. The evidence of Leroy Carey on this was that when he reached the spot where the appellant and Edwards were, he asked the appellant what had happened and the appellant said that the deceased was dead. When asked where the deceased was, he pointed into some nearby bush.

8 Edwards left Carey and the appellant and went to the Hospital for treatment. He went home after being attended to at the Hospital.

9 On December 24 ^th 1984 the deceased body was found in a shallow grave which was too short to accommodate the full length of his body. In order to cram him into this short grave, the skin and soft tissues surrounding both knee joints had been excised, leaving the bare bones and the two feet were bent backwards over the back as he lay face down in the shallow grave.

10 Doctor Mervyn Laws found an 8” longitudinal wound extending from just above the medial aspect of the right eye upwards and backwards to the crown of the head. The wound extended through the scalp, bony skull, and brain covering into the brain tissue with a fracture of the skull at the site of the wound. Death was due to brain damage, haemorrhage and shock. A cutlass used with considerable force could have caused the injury.

11 The appellant gave a statement under caution to Assistant Superintendent of Police Ivan Hensley on December 24th, 19849 which was admitted in evidence...