Weekes guilty of manslaughter, not murder, say Appeal judges

The Court of Appeal has set aside the murder conviction and sentence of Shawn Andre Weekes, two years after he was found guilty.

“The appeal is allowed . . . . A verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter is substituted pursuant to Section 5 of the Criminal Appeal Act Chapter 113A of the Constitution. The appellant will serve a sentence of nine years to run from May 28, 2021, which was the date the sentence was imposed,” Justices Rajendra Narine, Jefferson Cumberbatch and Francis Belle ordered on Thursday.

On October 16, 2020 Weekes, a resident of Crane, St Philip, was found guilty of the October 29, 2000 murder of Leo Callender.

He was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to serve a minimum term of 28 years, less the nine years he had spent on remand, leaving a term of 19 years to be served before he became eligible for release.

However, through his attorneys, Andrew Pilgrim KC and Martie Garnes, he challenged the verdict and sentence on almost a dozen grounds, including that the trial judge erred in law when he failed to give a proper direction on how the jury should approach the evidence of a witness they believed to be deliberately lying under oath, and that he failed to direct the jury on the issue of provocation.

They also argued that the sentence was manifestly excessive and ultimately wrong in principle, and the verdict and resulting conviction were unsafe and unsatisfactory.

Delivering the decision during a virtual sitting, Justice Narine explained that the three-member panel found “some merit” on the issue of whether or not the issue of provocation should have been left with the jury.

“We consider that there was evidence before the trial judge which should have been left for the jury to consider on the issue of provocation.

“It is based particularly on that ground that we will allow the appeal against conviction and sentence, and we set aside the conviction and sentence. In its space, we substitute a verdict of not guilty of murder…. We used the starting point of 24 years [in prison],” said the Appeal Court judge who added that several considerations were taken into account in reaching the decision.

Justice Narine explained that the court took note that Weekes was 17 years old at the time of the offence, had a previously clean record and had been assessed at a low risk of reoffending. They also found “strong” mitigating factors in his favour which resulted in the starting sentence being adjusted downwards to 20 years.

According to the record, at the time, Weekes had spent 2 158 days on remand, which was rounded off at six years. That time was deducted further, leaving him with 14 years in prison.

The delay in prosecuting the case, which Justice Narine described as “quite extraordinary”, was also taken into consideration.

He pointed out that the offence was committed on October 29, 2000, following which Weekes left the country and was extradited from the United States on October 24, 2011.

However, he was not indicted until July 21, 2016; arraigned on August 13, 2020; and his trial started on October 8, 2020. A guilty verdict was returned on October 16, 2020 and the convicted man was sentenced on May 28, 2021.

“We found it quite astounding that after the return of the appellant, it took almost five years to lay an indictment and a further four years before he was put on his trial – a delay of some nine years after his return and 20 years after the offence was committed.

“We took into account that the appellant was 17 years old at the time, but at the time the trial started, he was 37 years old. We find the delay of nine years in putting him up on his trial to be unacceptable in a society that has proper respect for the constitutional rights of a citizen who is guaranteed by Section 18 of the Constitution to a fair hearing within a reasonable time.

“So we find the delay to be inordinate [and] impose a further reduction of five years, leaving a final sentence of nine years imprisonment which we order to run from the date of conviction,” Justice Narine added. ]]>