BARBADOS-Appeal Court vacates death sentence on a man convicted for fire at a store that killed six women

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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados– The Court of Appeal Tuesday ruled that Jamar Dwayne Bynoe, who had previously been sentenced to hang for his role in the 2010 fire at a store that resulted in the deaths of six women, return to the High Court for sentencing.

But the Appeal Court, comprising former Court of Appeal Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson, former Appeal judge, Madam Justice Kaye Goodridge, and Justice Margaret Reifer, upheld his conviction even as it vacated “the sentence of death.”

Bynoe had appealed his 2016 conviction for murdering six women in the September 3, 2010, Campus Trendz fire. A jury had found him guilty of six counts of murder following the deaths of Shanna Griffith, Kelly-Ann Welch, Pearl Cornelius, Kellishaw Ollivierre, Nikita Belgrave, and Tiffany Harding.

Jamar Dwayne Bynoe to be re-sentenced in the 2010 deadly fire that killed six women (File Photo)

However, the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the island’s highest court, had in another matter, ruled that the mandatory death sentence in Barbados was unconstitutional.

“The conviction is upheld. The sentence of death is vacated. The appellant is returned to the trial court for re-sentencing under Section 2(a) (1) of the Offences Against the Persons Act and the Offences Against the Persons Amendment Act, at the earliest opportunity,” Justice Reifer said as she read out the ruling.

But Queen’s Counsel, Andrew Pilgrim, representing Bynoe, has already indicated that he intends to challenge the ruling before the CCJ, raising concerns about the lengthy delay in getting Tuesday’s decision.

“I wrote for bail for him about two months ago, and I believe this decision is now given due to my bail application. One wonders if I didn’t apply for bail for him if they would not have put themselves in a position to give this decision now, it certainly looks that way,” the Queen’s Counsel said, adding, “We will challenge . . . this decision before the CCJ”.

Bynoe had appealed the ruling of High Court judge, Madam Justice Michelle Weekes, sentencing him to death, and Pilgrim in 2019, argued on nine grounds before the three-member panel of Appeal Judges.

Giving a summary of the written judgment during a virtual sitting of the Court on Tuesday, Justice Reifer said the panel had found “no merit in these grounds.”

Among his grounds of appeal, Bynoe had challenged that the trial judge erred in law when she failed to stop the case as it related to murder from going to the jury as no evidence was lead of the intent necessary for the offense of murder.

But Justice Reifer said the state’s case – which was represented by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale and Senior State Counsel Oliver Thomas – was that, at the very least, there was” ‘an intention to cause mayhem; to cause serious bodily harm to affect the robbery as six persons died as a result.

“As part of this joint enterprise, the appellant intended to kill or cause serious bodily harm to the six deceased women’. In our view, this was sufficient to make intentions for the jury’s consideration. The only issue was whether the judge’s directions were in keeping with the authorities.

“We have examined the trial judge’s directions, and we are of the view that she did not err in her direction to the jury and that the issue of intent was rightfully placed before the jury, and we are of the view that there is no merit in this ground of appeal, there was no misdirection in law,” Justice Reifer said.

She also said that there was “no merit” in the challenge that the trial judge failed to adequately put the appellant’s defense or that she erred in law when she failed to facilitate the appointment of legal counsel for Bynoe, who was self-represented during the trial.

“Having considered the chronology of events, the court believed that the trial judge’s carefully exercised discretion was reasonable. She balanced all the relevant considerations, including the public interest, in making her determination to continue the trial. In our view, the judge acted reasonably in the circumstances . . .

“Our finding after reviewing the principles of law to be applied, reviewing the history of this matter, we view that the judge reasonably exercised her discretion in continuing the appellant’s trial; therefore, this ground was rejected.”

The Appeal Court ruled that the guilty verdict “was safe and it was therefore affirmed.

“We believe that the verdict was where a properly instructed jury could reasonably have rendered,” Justice,” Reifer said.

Reacting to the Appeal Court ruling, Pilgrim said he was concerned at the nearly three-year delay in handing down a verdict.

“This is “ridiculous. People say that the CCJ is critical of us, but we haven’t adventitial of ourselves; any decision that takes this long will be called under severe scrutiny because it makes you wonder what you were doing all this time when you should have been deciding. So, it isn’t perfect that it took this long.

“The Cou “t of Appeal puts itself in a difficult position when it takes this long to decide whether a person should be in prison, sentenced to hang or not,” he said,” reminding that the appeal had been heard since 2019.

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