Decision reserved

Convicted murderer Dwayne Omar Alleyne has lodged an appeal against his sentence.

Alleyne, of Maynards, St Peter was sentenced to death by hanging for the shooting death of Paul Hope on January 21, 2008.

The then 29-year-old Hope, of Clarke’s Road, Ashton Hall, St Peter, lost his life while at Maynards Peter. 

In June 2016 it took a 12-member jury just over an hour to reach a unanimous guilty verdict, which saw Alleyne being sentenced to death by Madam Justice Jacqueline Cornelius following a two-week trial.

In the Appeal Court yesterday before Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson and Justices Kaye Goodridge and William Chandler, Allyene’s attorneys Leslie Cargill Straker and Rashida Edwards put forward three grounds of appeal.

They argued that the trial judge erred when she failed to give complete direction to the jury on the defence to the incident; when she allowed an application by the prosecution “to admit prejudicial evidence” that the appellant had pointed a gun at one of the prosecution’s witnesses and when she “gave direction on motive to the jury based on the spurious evidence” of one of the Crown’s witnesses.

The trio of judges reserved their decision on the appeal following submissions by lead prosecutor Senior Crown Counsel Krystal Delaney and Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas.